Increasing Refillables | Oceana

Refillables

Decreasing ocean plastic pollution by increasing use of reusable packaging

The Campaign

Increasing refillable and reusable bottles in place of single-use plastic is an important way to combat the plastic crisis overwhelming our seas. Refillable bottles, the dominant form of reusable packaging used by major beverage companies and their bottlers, get reused up to 50 times. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and other major beverage companies should step up and make their pledges to increase refillables a reality.

 

The Problem

Between 21 and 34 billion plastic PET bottles become marine pollution every year, contributing to the deluge of plastics entering our oceans and harming marine life. Despite beverage companies commitments to increase recycling efforts and use of recycled content, recycling alone can’t fix this problem. Just 9% of all the plastic waste ever generated has been recycled. Moreover, plastic PET bottles made with recycled content can still reach and pollute the oceans.

What Beverage Companies Should Do

Just a 10-percentage point increase in reusable packaging by 2030 can eliminate over 1 trillion single-use plastic bottles and cups. This shift has the potential to prevent up to 153 billion of these containers from entering the world’s oceans and waterways. To put this in perspective, 1 trillion plastic bottles and cups stacked on top of each other would result in a single-use plastic tower that would reach to the moon and back over 300 times.

Refillable bottles were introduced by Coca-Cola in the 1940s. While many consumers remember the iconic glass refillable bottles, both glass and PET plastic refillable bottles are now widely used in, for example, India, Germany, Chile, the Philippines, and Mexico.

Some of the benefits of refillables include:

  • Refillable bottle schemes have nearly a 100% success rate for getting the bottle back.
  • Refillable bottles are reused up to 50 times.
  • Refillable bottles can drastically reduce the number of single-use bottles being thrown out.
  • Refillable bottles can be a climate-friendly option.

Increasing the share of refillables and decreasing marine plastic pollution by billions of bottles is achievable. Just four companies account for over 40% of sales (in terms of revenue) for the enormous non-alcoholic ready-to-drink market. These companies have the ability to change the overall beverage market, which means that increasing refillables and reducing marine plastic pollution is achievable in the near-term. That’s why Oceana is calling on global beverage companies to commit to substantially reducing plastic production and to increase refillables as a way to achieve this needed goal.

 

Take Action

TELL COCA-COLA AND OLYMPIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: ELIMINATE SINGLE-USE PLASTIC AND COMMIT TO REUSE FOR ALL FUTURE OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC GAMES

TAKE ACTION

TELL SOFT DRINK COMPANIES: GIVE ME REFILLABLE BOTTLES AND REUSABLE CUPS!

Sign the Petition

News & Reports

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November 14, 2023

Refill Again

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