This National Citizens' Action targeting Coke happened in July of 1999.


JULY 1999 National Citizens Action


[http://www.wald.com/activism/main/actnow.cfm]

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July 1999 National Citizen Actions


Every month, tens of thousands of Working Assets Long Distance customers speak out on the issue alerts they receive along with their Working Assets Long Distance telephone bills. Members of Working Assets Long Distance can take action by sending a personalized CitizenLetter and/or by making a Free Speech call to the decision makers named below (limit: 5 min./call, 2 calls/day).

Here's what YOU can do this month:


Tell Coca-Cola to Use Recycled Plastic


The Coca-Cola Company promised nearly 10 years ago to start using plastic soft drink bottles in the United States made with 25% recycled material. Every day the company sells more than 20 million sodas in plastic bottles here, and not one of them contains an ounce of recycled content. The result is billions of soda bottles are wasted each year. As quickly as they are tossed away, the plastics industry churns out more bottles made from nonrenewable resources and creates more toxic pollutants in the process. Coke refuses to use recycled plastic bottles in the U.S., even though they sell them in other countries.

Call Coca-Cola CEO M. Douglas Ivester at 800/571-2653 and demand that Coke live up to its promise to use soft drink bottles made from recycled plastic.


Working Assets customers can also order a CitizenLetter online.

For more information on this issue, please visit the
GrassRoots Recycling Network Web site.


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Working Assets Long Distance


JULY 1999 ShopForChange ACTION


[http://www.shopforchange.com/activism.cfm]



Make Your Voice Heard and Make a Difference.



Throughout the year Working Assets monitors events in the corporate world and identifies important and timely issues where citizen activism can make a difference. Each month, this page will highlight one crucial corporate issue, explain what's at stake, and tell you whom to contact to voice your opinion. You can send an e-mail to our targeted decision-maker right from this page.


JULY 1999 ShopForChange ACTION


Tell Coca-Cola to Use Recycled Plastic

The Coca-Cola Company promised nearly 10 years ago to start using plastic soft drink bottles in the United States made with 25% recycled material. Every day the company sells more than 20 million sodas in plastic bottles here, and not one of them contains an ounce of recycled content. The result is billions of soda bottles are wasted each year. As quickly as they are tossed away, the plastics industry churns out more bottles made from nonrenewable resources and creates more toxic pollutants in the process. Coke refuses to use recycled plastic bottles in the U.S., even though they use them in other countries.

Click here to read additional background information on this action.

E-mail the letter below Douglas Ivester, CEO & Chairman of Coke, and demand that Coke live up to its promise to use soft drink bottles made from recycled plastic. Or personalize the message to reflect your own concerns.

First Name
Last Name
E-mail address
Street
City
State
Zip
Sample message text.
Please edit or correct.

Dear Mr. Ivester,



I am writing to urge you to make the Coca-Cola Company keep its promise to use soft drink bottles made from recycled plastic.



In 1990, you said that Coca-Cola would start using plastic soft drink bottles in the United States made with 25% recycled material. Now, nine years later, Coke sells more than 20 million plastic soda bottles every day in the U.S. -- and none of them contain an ounce of recycled plastic. As quickly as they are tossed into landfill, the plastics industry churns out more bottles made from non-renewable resources and creates more toxic pollutants in the process.



According to an industry trade publication, it would cost Coke only an extra one tenth of one cent per container to make 20 ounce PET bottles with 25% recycled material. Coca-Cola already uses recycled content and refillable plastic bottles in several other countries. Why not here?



Coca-Cola is a leader in the soft drink industry. If you choose to act in an environmentally responsible manner, other companies will follow. Please tell me when you intend to use recycled plastic in your soda bottles sold in the United States.

Your message will be sent to:

M. Douglas Ivester
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Coca-Cola
One Coca-Cola Plaza
Atlanta, GA 30313
800/571-2653
divester@na.ko.com

Background Information

Coca-Cola is the soft drink industry leader, boasting a 44% market share in 1997. Coke is also a leading industrial polluter: every year, 8 billion plastic Coke bottles, containing 600 million pounds of 100% virgin plastic, are discarded, most ending up as street litter or as landfill.

In December 1990, Coke publicly pledged to begin using plastic bottles in the United States made with 25% recycled plastic. At that time, they also stated that using recycled materials would not effect the cost of their products. Now, nine years later, Coke sells more than 20 million sodas every day in the U.S. - and none of them contain an ounce of recycled plastic. In fact, over the past 10 years, Coke has moved away from their commitment to using recyclable materials altogether and has instead become a leader in their use of #1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic soda bottles.

Cost-effective technology exists to make plastic soda bottles with recycled bottles. In fact, according to an industry trade publication, it would only cost Coke 1/10 of one cent per bottle to make plastic bottles with 25% recycled material. Yet, citing the high cost of using recycled materials, Coca-Cola abandoned their plans to use recycled-content bottles in the US. Ironically, Coke already uses recycled content bottles in Australia, New Zealand and several European countries.

With plastic waste increasing ten times faster than the recycling of plastic bottles, Coke needs to take responsibility for the waste its producing.

Contact information and links for Advocacy Groups working on this issue:
GrassRoots Recycling Network (GRRN)
P.O. Box 49283
Athens, GA 30604-9283
706-613-7121
http://www.grrn.org/ 

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