Environmental campaigners are the latest to take a stand against Coca-Cola which is driving its “truckload of rubbish” into Wembley Park tomorrow.
Wearing Santa hats and singing carols with a sinister twist, Camden Greenpeace campaigners gathered outside the Brent Civic Centre today to tell passers-by of the damage Coca-Cola is doing to the world’s oceans.
A plastic tree was put up, made from bottles recovered from a canal clean up on just one day in October, to reflect how responsible the company is for the plastic pollution which is ravaging the sea.
Coca-Cola’s festively-lit red branded lorry is as part of the company’s Christmas ‘Holidays are coming’ marketing campaign.
Campaigners have launched a petition asking Coke to phase out single-use plastic bottles and invest in new alternatives, saying the drinks giant has the power to change how the industry operates.
The campaigners said: “Instead of a truck rolling into town, a truckload of rubbish is in fact dumped into our oceans every minute, with an estimated 12 million tons of plastic entering the world’s oceans every year.”
These plastic bottles, they say, is “turning our oceans into a plastic soup, and ruining our beaches, canals, parks and natural spaces in the process.”
Michelle, a Greenpeace Camden activist, added: “Coca Cola’s Christmas truck tour is a centrepiece of their marketing
She urged Coca-Cola to use its profits to invest in innovative ways to reduce their plastic footprint.
Greenpeace says: “Plastic bottles are one of the most commonly found items on the beach surface and during beach cleans. And as one of the world’s largest soft drinks companies, Coca-Cola must do more to ensure that plastic bottles aren’t choking our oceans.”
Coca-Cola Company in Western Europe and Coca-Cola European partners launched a sustainability action plan last month, This is Forward, to use their business and brands “as a force for good”.
In its report, it says a key aim is to ensure that “none of their packaging ends up as litter or in the oceans” and to “ensure that 100 per cent of their packaging is recyclable or reusable by 2025”To sign the petition go to secure.greenpeace.org.uk/page/s/coca-cola-petition
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here