Agenda - 04-17-2001-5c - Laserfiche WebLink

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Dear Coca•Cala Board Member: 6 On 18 April, The Coca-Cola Company will be holding its annual shareholders meeting and considering a proposal urging the adoption of recycling initiatives. We respectfully ask that you to give this proposal your full consideration, for it would truly benefit the company. Exciting new things are happening at Coca Cola, and we hope that one of these will be to bring the company into a position of undisputed environmental leadership within the beverage industry in a very visible way. Coca-Cola's recent decision to demonstrate environmental responsibility in the areas of vending machine refrigerants and effluent discharges from bottling facilities is an encouraging signal that the company is becoming more aware of how serious these issues are. But it seems to us inconsistent to undertake such helpful measures while still strongly opposing other environmentally beneficial policies, such as deposit systems and closed loop recycling. As proud Coke stock holders and concerned. citizen, we think it is of the utmost importance that Coke be a leader specifically in promoting recycling and sustainable packaging practices. We can think of nothing that would do more to capture the public's imagination, appeal to young people, and give Coke an advantage over competitors than an environmental initiative that was sincere, effective, and powerful. The environmental community would like for Coca•Cala to make a firm commitment to establish a system that achieves an 80/p collection rate over five years, an easily achievable goal that is already being met in the ten U.S. states with container deposits. As you may know, collection rates for both plastic and aluminum have been declining for six years, to the point where the collection rate for all containers (plastic, aluminum and glass) is less than 35 /o in non-bottle bill states, and a shocking 10% for plastic beverage containers in non bottle bill states. Coke can also easily introduce on a nationwide basis a minimum 25% recycled plastic in PET beverage bottles, the level currently being achieved in Chairman Douglas Daft's native Australia. If both of these initiatives are undertaken together, existing industries can utilize as feedstocks all collected plastic, glass and aluminum without market disruption. The impact on employment, tax revenues and wealth creation could be substantial and significant. And Coke could rightly take credit for this monumental achievement. We hope that Coca-Cola will make a public, commitment to achieve 25°Ja plastic recycled content and 80% collection for all containers in five years. But we also need to hear details of how goals will be achieved, resources committed, and progress benchmarked. Eleven years ago, Coke made certain promises that were never fulfilled, and this time specific timeframes should be included. It is 'also important that Coke reverse its refusal to address the issue of aluminum can waste, which has an even greater negative impact than plastic. Indeed, each can has an energy content of a third of a can of gasoline; industry-wide, 45 billion of these cans were landfilled in the United States last year!