This report, commissioned by Oceana, assesses the impact of the plastic pledges of five major beverage brands and to understand what they would mean in terms of reducing emissions of plastic bottles to the aquatic environment.
These pledges include increasing post-consumer recycled (PCR) content in their polyethylene terephthalate plastic (PET) bottles. To fulfil these pledges, more used plastic bottles – which if not collected could be mismanaged or littered and make their way into aquatic environments – will need to be recycled back into new bottles.
This study worked to quantify the current level of supply of beverage bottles for recycling, the current flow of unmanaged and littered single-use plastic beverage bottles and the impact brand commitments could have on flows of plastic beverage plastic bottles into the aquatic environment as well as reviewing alternative options.
