Major beverage firms like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have reduced their ambitious targets for recycled and reusable plastic packaging, even as recycling rates for PET bottles remain low at around 24% in the US. New policies and technologies offer some hope, but critics highlight ongoing environmental pollution from these brands. This update reflects four years of stalled progress since initial pledges.
Four years after major beverage companies such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Suntory announced goals for bio-based and recycled-content bottles, many have quietly dialed back their commitments. Recycling rates for PET bottles stand at about 24% nationwide, according to MIT research in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, unchanged for a decade. The EPA reported 29.1% for PET in 2018, with overall plastic recycling at 8.7%. CleanHub’s 2024 report notes a drop to 5% today, blamed on China’s waste import ban.
Reloop’s dashboard estimates 1.5 trillion beverage containers, including 785 billion PET bottles, ended up in US landfills from 2015 to 2024—equivalent to 2,309 bottles per person. In 2024 alone, Americans discarded 504 containers each, with 263 being PET. Without improvements, another 878.6 billion could be wasted from 2025 to 2029. The Recycling Partnership’s 2024 report reveals 83% of curbside-recyclable plastic packaging goes unused.
Coca-Cola, ranked the top producer of branded plastic pollution for six years by Break Free From Plastic, adjusted its goals in December 2024, extending recycling targets to 2035 and aiming for 70-75% collection of sold bottles and cans. Its 2024 update showed only 18% recycled PET usage, with no virgin plastic reduction from 2020 to 2023 due to growth. The firm dropped a 25% refillable packaging goal; in 2023, reusable packaging was 14% of volume, and reusable plastic just 1.2%.
PepsiCo, which pledged 20% reusable sales by 2030 but reached only 10%, eliminated those targets in May 2025. It shifted to a 2% annual virgin plastic cut, achieving 5% in 2024. By then, 93% of its key-market packaging was recyclable, reusable, or compostable.
A Science Advances study linked production volumes to pollution, with Coca-Cola at 11%, PepsiCo at 5%, and top five brands at 24% of global branded waste. Researchers concluded that phasing out single-use plastics by major polluters would cut pollution sharply.
Lawsuits underscore skepticism: Los Angeles County sued Coca-Cola and PepsiCo in November 2024 for misleading recyclability claims and disinformation. California’s Attorney General targeted ExxonMobil in September 2024 over false recycling promotion. NRDC critiques chemical recycling, noting pyrolysis—80% of US proposals—acts like incineration, producing hazardous waste.
Progress includes Carbios’s enzymatic recycling plant in Longlaville, France, which broke ground in April 2024 for 50,000 tons yearly capacity, handling tough plastics. Paused in late 2024 for funding, it resumed in October 2025 with government aid and partners like L’Oréal. Production starts in late 2027, boosted by a September 2025 €1,000-per-ton incentive for biorecycled plastics.
Policies advance too: Ten states’ deposit systems achieve 70% redemption versus 33% nationally, per the Container Recycling Institute. Connecticut jumped from 44% to 65% in 2024 after raising deposits to 10 cents; Oregon leads at 87%. MIT models an 82% national rate with a bottle bill. California expanded to wine and spirits in 2024.
By late 2025, seven states enacted Extended Producer Responsibility laws, covering one in five Americans. Colorado’s aims to double recycling by 2035; California’s SB 54 mandates recyclable packaging by 2032 and 65% plastic recycling, though rulemaking paused in May 2025.
Consumers can help by using deposits, keeping caps on bottles, opting for reusables, supporting policies, and checking local rules via tools like Earth911.