Drinks firms are being accused of greenwashing and “misleading” customers with unsubstantiated claims that their plastic bottles are recyclable.
In a formal complaint issued by consumer groups to the European Commission, drinks giants claiming to be “100% recyclable” or “100% recycled” have been labelled as misleading due to the reality of far lower recycling rates.
In addition, the Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs (BEUC) said green imagery on bottles gave the “false idea” of environmentally sustainable recycling.
Referring to brands such as Coca-Cola, Danone and Nestlé, it also targeted the phrase “100% recyclable”, pointing out that bottle lids in the EU cannot be made of recycled material, while noting labels are also rarely made of recycled materials.
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“There is no guarantee that a plastic water bottle will be recycled,” said BEUC deputy director general Ursula Pachl, adding: “This greenwashing must stop”.
The new accusations come in the wake of a report from campaign groups ClientEarth, ECOS and Zero Waste Europe that found, while rates of plastic bottle recycling were improving, a fully circular system does not exist.
Currently, the recycling rate for PET beverage bottle is thought to be only 55% in the EU, with the chance of it becoming a bottle again estimated only 30%.
Client Earth lawyer Rosa Pritchard said: “There is a lot of concern about plastic pollution and a lot of confusion about recycling.”
“Consumers are just tired of greenwashing, generally, and really want information they can count on.”
