Last week, a sculpture weighing 2.5 tons was placed in front of the entrance to Coca-Cola’s UK headquarters in London. Blocking the front doors, the sculpture depicted a picture-perfect family beach scene interrupted by birds regurgitating plastic. Greenpeace released a report on Monday, claiming responsibility for the sculpture and sharing their hope that this sign of protest would draw attention to the failings of the company.
According to the report by Greenpeace, Coca-Cola sells more than 100 billion plastic bottles every year. The majority of the packaging produced by the company consists of single-use plastic bottles. Instead of making progress by switching over to refillable and reusable options, the number of single-use plastic bottles has been increasing over the last decade. In the report, Greenpeace claims that, although Coca-Cola claims to promote recycling, only 7% of their bottles are made with recycled plastic. “We were trying to uncover for the first time the true size of Coca-Cola’s plastic footprint,” says Louisa Cassons, oceans campaigner for Greenpeace. A Greenpeace study in 2014 found that 530 billion plastic bottles were produced around the world and just over half of them were recycled. Marine litter is a global issue that only continues to grow in significance as time goes on. “We’ve installed this [sculpture] at their front door today to stop them washing their hands of the problem,” comments Casson. Greenpeace is urging Coca-Cola, the world’s largest soft drinks company, to take the lead in the movement to produce more environmentally-friendly bottles. Eager to work together with soft drink companies, Greenpeace believes the key goals are ditching throwaway plastic, adopting reusable models and quickly moving towards 100% recycled content for all packaging.
In response to to this event, Coca-Cola claims that they have been working with Greenpeace to develop a new sustainable packaging strategy that will be published in the summer. The spokesperson for Coca-Cola acknowledged the weight of the marine litter issue and claimed to be dedicated to finding long-term, effective solutions.
The sculpture was designed to have a poignant impact and at 2.5 tons, its presence could not be easily overlooked. The sculpture is “pretty heavy,” Casson said, “but ten times that weight of plastic is flowing into the oceans every single minute.” Our oceans today are facing a huge global crisis. The only way to combat the issue is to tackle it at its source. This bold yet peaceful form of protest was a novel way to deliver a simple message as well as drawn interest from the public with a striking, graphic image. Large companies such as Coca-Cola hold the future condition of the environment in their control. The state of the environment is one issue that every single individual should have a vested interest in, despite divisions in ethnicity, politics or religion. The only way to secure the wellbeing of the Earth we all inhabit is to enact change, which will only be possible if more organizations like Greenpeace continue to demand it.
0
0
Average Rating