MEDIAWATCH: How easy is it for TVNZ to allow Coke Cola to greenwash NZ?

Coca-Cola to change Sprite’s iconic green packaging

Soft drink industry giant Coca-Cola is changing their iconic 60-year-old green Sprite bottles to clear plastic.

The company’s regional manager told 1News they are ditching the green bottles in an attempt to improve sustainability.

Coca-Cola’s Julie O’Toole says clear bottles are easier to recycle into new bottles.

“While green PET [polyethylene terephthalate] plastic is recyclable, it’s usually converted into single-use items like clothing and carpet that cannot be recycled again.

“The shift from green to clear plastic Sprite bottles will help increase these bottles’ likelihood of being remade into new bottles.”

O’Toole said the change in New Zealand will affect all pack sizes of Sprite Classic bottles in PET plastic packaging.

“Sprite No Sugar (which is already in a clear plastic bottle) will now sport a new-look black logo and name, Sprite Zero Sugar, to align it with Coca-Cola’s Zero Sugar range.”

The change is expected to be complete in Aotearoa by June this year as retailers sell existing stock.

I was reading this in shock yesterday thinking, ‘how fucking easy is it for Coke to sell some bulshit greenwashing on the state broadcaster, because, that’s what this is, a story from the advertising department who have pushed a Coke press release into the news cycle.

The truth is that only a tiny fraction of all the plastic produced ever gets recycled, and then, even recycled plastic eventually breaks down into micro-plastics that end up in our air, our food, and in our blood.

This isn’t a solution, it’s a press campaign to con the sleepy hobbits of muddle NuZilind into believing coke are actually doing something meaningful.

Shame on TVNZ for getting so easily played by one of their largest advertisers.

 

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