(AFP / JOEL SAGET)
The NGO France Nature Environnement details in a press release “a well-established choreography” by Coca-Cola: “pour the contents of a plastic bottle into a cup, serve it to a person who then thinks they have an ecological container in their possession, then throw the bottle out of sight.
Images of plastic bottles emptied into cups made the rounds on social networks during the 2024 Olympics. This Wednesday, November 27, the NGO France Nature Environnement
filed a complaint
in Nanterre against Coca-Cola which it accuses of having
misled consumers
during the competition by promising “zero waste” as a drinks supplier.
In a press release, the NGO details “a well-established choreography” by Coca-Cola:
“pour the contents of a plastic bottle into a cup,
serve it to a person who then thinks they have an ecological container in their possession, then throw the bottle out of sight.” However, the boss of Coca-Cola France Mickaël Vinet had said, in April on
France Info,
aim for “zero waste”
during the Olympic Games, recalls the NGO. “These allegations thus took on a misleading character, intended to
improve the image of the brand in the eyes of the general public”,
asserts France Nature Environnement in its complaint, consulted by AFP.
Already criticized during the Games, the American company explained that it had to use plastic bottles on certain Olympic sites. The American giant had indicated in a press release that it was necessary to find the
“better conditions of safety and food quality”,
but also “adapt to each site and its
technical and logistical constraints”,
citing among these water and electricity supplies, “available surface area” or “storage space”.
An international treaty to eliminate plastic pollution in preparation
The non-alcoholic drinks giant had stated that these bottles would be “sorted and compacted in order to be recycled”. Gold
“plastic has an environmental impact from its production”,
recalls Axèle Gibert, head of waste management at FNE, who also highlights the
presence of microplastics in liquids
drunk in these bottles. She denounces a “double discourse” that we find “on the negotiations on the plastic treaty”.
In Busan (South Korea), representatives from 178 countries are working on this
international treaty to eliminate plastic pollution.
But if some countries want to aim for a reduction in production and the elimination of “unnecessary” plastics, others, including large oil producers, are opposed to any quantified objective on production.
