• I HOPE people can look beyond the obviously nostalgic sentiments of a giant, gleaming, red truck demonstrating the start of Coca-Cola’s Christmas marketing push and, instead, recognise the billions of plastic bottles that are drowning our oceans behind the scenes.

What if the truck that’s rolling through our city was full of plastic?

This alarming amount enters our oceans every minute, a fact that was seemingly overlooked when Coca-Cola invested in their deceitful marketing.

Coca-Cola and their competitors have the resources and means by which to solve this problem; they can develop new drink delivery systems, use more recycled content, and improve their plastic footprint to lessen the degree of destruction.

But they don’t do nearly enough.

Currently 93 per cent of the plastic used by Coca-Cola is brand new, virgin, material, not recycled, and single-use plastic bottles make up 70 per cent of Coca-Cola’s product packaging globally.

An estimated 110 billion of these bottles are manufactured every year, many of which end up in landfill, on beaches and in our oceans.

Coca-Cola have caused too much damage without being held to account.

For too long big companies have ignored their responsibilities.

Every year Coca-Cola roll out duplicitous advertising campaigns to try to uphold their brand’s reputation.

Millions have been spent on the truck as a centrepiece of their marketing, which attempts to portray the company as friendly, fun, and harmless, all of which are far removed from the stark red reality.

Not a penny of this is spent on reforming their policy towards plastic and addressing the public health crisis that they are a contributor to globally.

I implore Westminster Extra readers to ignore Coca-Cola’s publicity stunt and, instead, to think about the damage they knowingly cause to our planet and people.

Tell Coke to stop choking our oceans.

BETHANY CRONIN
Greenpeace Member
Address supplied