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COP26 - Coca-Cola’s 100 Billion Bottle Problem

Geoff Riley

31st October 2021

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This Panorama special looks at the pollution footprint of Coca Cola.

Coca-Cola sells more than 100 billion throwaway plastic bottles each year. How credible are their plans to make a significant dent in this enormous amount of waste? An excellent video to watch when considering negative externalities from consumption. It was filmed on the ground in Samoa, the Philippines and Uganda.

According to a 2020 report from Break Free from Plastic, Coca-Cola had by far the largest plastic footprint in 2020, followed by fellow consumer goods giants Nestlé, Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever.

This BBC news clip provides a handy summary of the Panorama report.

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Geoff Riley

Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for nearly forty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD and Revision conferences in the UK and overseas.