Drinks giant’s proposals to reduce plastic waste are unambitious and vague, say some enviromental groups

Coca-Cola’s plan to reduce the millions of plastic bottles that end in the world’s oceans every day has been criticised by environmental groups as unambitious “PR spin”.

The world’s biggest drinks brand, estimated to produce more than 100bn plastic bottles every year, raised its 2020 target for the amount of recycled plastic used in its bottles from 40% to 50%.

It also said it was considering testing an “on-the-go bottle recovery and reward programme”, although a spokeswoman said there were no details of how this might work or how big the trial would be.

Figures obtained by the Guardian this month revealed that across the globe one million plastic bottles are bought by consumers every minute – roughly 20,000 a second.

The number will jump another 20% by 2021, with annual sales rising to more than half a trillion a year, creating an environmental crisis some campaigners predict will be as serious as climate change.

Some environmental groups criticised Coca-Cola’s proposal saying they were too vague and pointing out that smaller drinks companies already have more ambitious targets.

Louise Edge, senior oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “They’re doing nothing to genuinely challenge the culture of throwaway single-use plastic bottles, and what little action they’re taking is restricted to Britain, when oceans plastic is a global issue.”

She said Coke was “still part of the problem not part of the solution”.

“They should be pushing for an industry-wide deposit return scheme so far fewer plastic bottles end up in our oceans, and should get far more reusable bottles on to the shelves. This company has a history of making green announcements that sound good but deliver little. Coke’s PR spin on plastic is not ‘the real thing’.”