No Glee from Environmentalists for
Coca-Cola “Plant Bottle”
Photo courtesy of Beth Terry - Hawaii
Some California environmental groups got a last minute invite to an unusual spectacle taking
place on Earth Day to launch Coke’s new “plant bottle” packaging for Coca-Cola brand “Dasani”
bottled water. The invitation cheers the “exciting packaging advancement” that will allow CocaCola to bottle its plain old municipal water without the coke syrup in a bottle that is “made with
up to 30 percent plants – and up to 30 percent less petroleum.”
“Although our event is taking place this Friday – and we apologize for the short notice – we
really would love to see you there. The event is a fashion show featuring models clad in
garments made from plants that cover up to 30 percent of their bodies. The show will be hosted
by actor and singer Matthew Morrison from FOX TV’s “Glee.”
Again, we apologize for the short notice, and we sincerely hope you can fit it into your busy
schedule. Please RSVP… “
On behalf of environmentalists in the know about plastic packaging and bottled water, we send
our regrets, as follows:
1. We Regret that while many areas of America face drought, your bottling of municipal
water uses three times as much water in the process of bottling it as the amount of water
that came from the tap to fill the bottle. http://clatl.com/atlanta/tap-water-wears-a-bow-tiewhen-its-put-in-a-bottle-and-sold/Content?oid=1271054
2. We Regret that despite your green leaf logo, your “plant bottle” is still just a PET plastic
bottle and is not biodegradable or compostable on land or at sea.
3. We Regret that Coca-Cola will not be collecting and recycling their own PET “plant
bottles,” and that only approximately 20.9% percent of PET bottles are “recycled” (mostly
into lower grade material that is not used in bottles again) in America. The remainder, at
over 20 billion bottles, last forever in our landfills or in our environment, including our
oceans. We also regret that Coca-Cola failed to achieve its own pledge of using at least
10% recycled content in PET bottles and has just announced the shut down of it’s PET
recycling joint venture in South Carolina. http://www.container-recycling.org/
4. We Regret that Coca-Cola is substituting its chemical-laden petroleum plastic bottle with
a chemical-laden petroleum and plant plastic bottle.
5. We Regret that estrogenic compounds in your PET “plant bottle” may leach into the
water and impair human health and reproduction.
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2009/04/29/2555698.htm
http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1289
%2Fehp.1003220
6. We Regret that advertising has tricked people into believing that bottled water is safer
when in fact your product has been recalled for contamination and gets a grade of “D” on
Environmental Working Group’s evaluation of bottled waters.
http://www.ewg.org/bottled-water-2011-search?id=36
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/pure-cokes-attempt-to-sell-tap-waterbackfires-in-cancer-scare-567004.html
7. We Regret that Coca-Cola Corporation has been so slow to properly label the source of
the tap water that it bottles. http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/04/20
8. We Regret that single servings of water are sold in disposable packaging that will last
longer than any of us will be on this planet, and that future generations will have to deal
with our waste. www.storyofstuff.org/bottledwater/
9. We Regret that you aren’t screening the documentaries Tapped and Bag It! at your
event.
10. We Regret that Matthew Morrison, a beloved singer and actor, is involved with such a
green washing sham. We wish he talked with us first.
And although we appreciate the promise of 30% clad models, we believe it would be more
appropriate for your models to be nude, as in “the emperor has no clothes” because this kind of
green washing doesn’t fool us at all.
The undersigned*,
Lisa Kaas Boyle, Esq., Plastic Pollution Coalition
Stephanie Barger, Earth Resource Foundation
Beth Terry, My Plastic-free Life
Leslie Tamminen, Seventh Generation Advisors
Mark Murray, Californians Against Waste
Rachel Vida, Campaign for Recycling
Daniella Russo, Plastic Pollution Coalition
Sherri Loveland, Orange County Interfaith Coalition for the Environment (OCICE)
Angela Howe, Surfrider Foundation
Laura Rea, Sustainable Business Leadership Council
Tedd Ward, M.S. – Program Manager, Del Norte Solid Waste Management Authority
Dan Silver, Executive Director, Endangered Habitats League
Andrew Rea, Andrew Rea Design
Evelyn Wendel, WeTap
Richard Gardner, Director, South Coast Water District
Jessica Aldridge, Burbank Green Alliance
Andy Shrader, Co-lead Plastic Bag Ban grassroots organizer, Los Angeles & Culver City
Christopher Chin, Executive Director, COARE
Cathy Lam & Mike Kane, Founders, Our1World.org
Monica Wilson, GAIA
Melanie Winter, Director, The River Project
*Although some of us were not personally invited, we the undersigned also send our regret
For more information contact Lisa Boyle at lisa@boyleroom.com 310-422-7988 or Stephanie
Barger at stephanie.barger@earthresource.org or 714-381-6400