when you returned the bottle. coca cola would collect the bottles, wash and re use them. when the beverage producers were selling refillable bottles, they had to pay for the costs of operations associated with getting the bottles back, washing them, refilling them, etc. voiceover: let s put em back in the rack, mac! - and then along came plastic. when single use packaging was presented to them, they realised that they could effectively externalise all of those management costs onto the municipalities. voiceover: you ll love them. and that is why it looked like such a good financial deal for them, and that s why they went for it. advert: these lighter - plastic bottles take pounds off your shopping load. by the 1970s, persuasive coke adverts were promoting the benefits of plastic. single use plastic isjust
you would get two cents back when you returned the bottle. coca cola would collect the bottles, wash and re use them. when the beverage producers were selling refillable bottles, they had to pay for the costs of operations associated with getting the bottles back, washing them, refilling them, etc. voiceover: let s put em back in the rack, mac! - and then along came plastic. when single use packaging was presented to them, they realised that they could effectively externalise all of those management costs onto the municipalities. voiceover: you ll love them. and that is why it looked like such a good financial deal for them, and that s why they went for it. advert: these lighter - plastic bottles take pounds off your shopping load. by the 1970s, persuasive coke adverts were promoting the benefits of plastic. single use plastic isjust
these lighter plastic bottles take lbs off your shopping load. by the 70s, coke was promoting plastic. single use plastic is a massive money saver for many companies, including coca cola. they use incredibly cheap plastic to make that packaging, they put it on the market and then it isjob done, it s gone. in the last three years alone, 156 billion of coca cola s plastic bottles have been littered, burned or dumped. but coke knew it had an image problem, so announced a plan to recycle more bottles called world without waste. but if you look at the small print, there is an omission. their bottles are only recyclable where infrastructure exists. this is the pacific island of samoa. in february, coke stopped producing glass bottles here and started shipping in thousands
nearly four years ago, facing growing criticism, coca cola came up with a plan to tackle their plastic pollution problem. but an investigation by bbc panorama reveals that they are struggling to make the progress required to meet their promises. and in some places, particularly in some of the world s poorer nations, things are getting much worse. our correspondent sofia bettiza has the story. here is a refreshment you can enjoy quickly and conveniently. in the 1950s, coca cola was sold in glass bottles. the company would collect them, wash them and reuse them. these lighter plastic bottles take lbs off your shopping load. by the 70s, coke was promoting plastic. single use plastic is a massive money saver for many companies, including coca cola. they use incredibly cheap plastic to make that packaging, they put it on the market and then it isjob done, it s gone. in the last three years alone, 156 billion of coca cola s plastic bottles have been littered, burned or dumped. but coke knew