Coca-Cola are estimated to produce around 3.8 million metric tonnes (8.4 billion pounds) of plastic packaging in 2026, more than any other consumer brand in the world. That works out to roughly 3,000 plastic bottles thrown away every second.
The number has been climbing for years. Coca-Cola's most recent disclosed figure is 3.6 million tonnes in 2024, roughly a fifth more than in 2019, and the line has pointed steadily upward the whole time.
Coca-Cola call their packaging plan World Without Waste, and point to bottles designed to be recyclable and made with more recycled material than before.
The numbers behind the campaign are less comfortable. Coca-Cola are on track for 3.8 million tonnes of plastic in 2026, they have topped the world's plastic-polluter ranking for six years running, and in 2024 they quietly weakened the targets meant to bring that number down.
Coca-Cola's annual plastic footprint (2019-2026)
Coca-Cola report the weight of their plastic packaging each year through the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. The table below brings those yearly figures together, from the 2019 baseline to an estimate for 2026.
| Year | Plastic packaging (metric tonnes) | Change vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 3.8 million | +27% |
| 2025 | 3.7 million | +23% |
| 2024 | 3.6 million | +20% |
| 2023 | 3.4 million | +13% |
| 2022 | 3.3 million | +10% |
| 2021 | 3.2 million | +7% |
| 2020 | 3.1 million | +3% |
| 2019 | 3.0 million | baseline |
Note: The figures for 2019, 2023 and 2024 come from Coca-Cola's disclosures to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, with 2024 the most recent at 3.6 million tonnes. The years in between are interpolated, and 2025 and 2026 are projected at the recent growth rate.
Independent groups expect the climb to continue. The ocean-conservation group Oceana has projected that Coca-Cola could reach 4.1 million tonnes of plastic a year by 2030 if current trends hold.
How big is Coca-Cola?
Founded in 1886 in Atlanta, Coca-Cola have grown into the largest beverage company in the world. That sheer scale is the main reason their packaging footprint is so large.
- Founded in 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia.
- Around 2.2 billion servings sold every day.
- Sold in more than 200 countries and territories.
- 32 billion-dollar brands, from Coca-Cola to Sprite, Fanta and Dasani.
- $47.1 billion in net revenue in 2024.
Why so much plastic?
Coca-Cola's plastic footprint comes down to scale and the kind of packaging they lean on. Four things keep the number high, and rising.
- Sheer volume. Coca-Cola sell around 2.2 billion drinks a day, so even a few grams of plastic per bottle add up to millions of tonnes over a year.
- A single-use model. About 48% of their packaging is plastic bottles, almost all of them made to be used once and binned. Only 14% of their drinks come in refillable or reusable formats.
- Mostly new plastic. Recycled material made up 28% of their packaging in 2024, and just 18% of the plastic in their bottles. The rest is virgin plastic, made fresh from oil, and that use rose to 2.94 million tonnes in 2024.
- Growth where recycling is thin. Much of Coca-Cola's growth is in markets where single-serve plastic dominates and collection is patchy, so new sales tend to arrive as new plastic.
Almost half of Coca-Cola's drinks are sold in single-use plastic bottles like these. Only 14% of their volume comes in refillable or reusable packaging.
In the EU and UK, rules like the Single-Use Plastics Directive, packaging producer-responsibility charges and a tax on new plastic are making single-use packaging more expensive, which is part of why the direction of Coca-Cola's targets matters.
The targets Coca-Cola walked back
In December 2024, Coca-Cola rewrote the packaging goals they had promoted for years. Most were softened or dropped altogether, as the table shows.
| Goal | Old target | New target |
|---|---|---|
| Recycled material in packaging | 50% by 2030 | 35 to 40% by 2035 |
| Reusable or refillable packaging | 25% by 2030 | dropped |
| Cut in new plastic | committed | removed |
| Collect a bottle or can for each one sold | 100% by 2030 | 70 to 75% by 2035 |
Note: The changes were announced in December 2024 and framed by Coca-Cola as an evolution of World Without Waste. PepsiCo and three large Coca-Cola bottlers kept their own 2030 commitments; Coca-Cola did not.
Is Coca-Cola's plastic recycled?
Coca-Cola say almost all of their packaging is recyclable. How much actually gets recycled, and how much new plastic they still use, tells a fuller story.
| Measure (2024) | Figure |
|---|---|
| Recycled material in all packaging | 28% |
| Recycled material in plastic bottles | 18% |
| Packaging recyclable by design | 99% |
| Drinks in reusable packaging | 14% |
| New (virgin) plastic used | 2.94 million tonnes |
Note: Figures are from Coca-Cola's 2024 packaging disclosure. "Recyclable by design" means a pack could be recycled in principle, not that it is actually collected and recycled, which is far lower in most markets.
Coca-Cola bottles packed into a bale of crushed PET. Recycling at this rate is the exception rather than the rule, since only 18% of the plastic in their bottles is recycled material.
The distance between 99% recyclable by design and 18% recycled material in bottles is the heart of the matter. A bottle that could be recycled is not the same as a bottle that is, and most of Coca-Cola's plastic is still made new.
What Coca-Cola say about their plastic
Coca-Cola present their packaging work under the banner World Without Waste, pointing to rising recycled content and packaging that is almost entirely recyclable by design.
Independent groups read the same data differently. The Break Free From Plastic brand audit has named Coca-Cola the world's top plastic polluter for six years running, most recently finding their branded litter across 40 countries in its 2023 audit.
When Coca-Cola weakened their 2030 targets, the campaign group Oceana responded with a report titled "Coca-Cola Doubles Down on Single-Use Plastic". Coca-Cola's own disclosures point the same way, with plastic use rising, new plastic rising, and the reduction goals removed.
What about Coca-Cola's cans and glass?
Plastic is the stream Coca-Cola actually report on, so it is the one with a firm number. They sell billions of drinks in aluminium cans and glass bottles too, but they do not publish the weight of either the way they do for plastic.
To give a fuller picture, we estimated both from Coca-Cola's reported drinks volume and their own packaging mix (roughly 48% plastic, 26% metal cans, 10% glass), using standard per-unit weights for a can and a bottle.
| Packaging stream | Estimated waste per year | How solid this is |
|---|---|---|
| Plastic (PET bottles) | 3.8 million tonnes (2026) | Disclosed by Coca-Cola |
| Aluminium cans | 1.0 to 1.25 million tonnes | Our estimate |
| Glass bottles | 1.5 to 2.0 million tonnes | Our rougher estimate |
Note: Coca-Cola publish only their plastic weight, so the aluminium and glass lines are our own estimates, using standard weights of about 13g per can and about 190g per glass bottle. Glass is the least certain, as most of it is refillable and reused many times, which we have built in.
The takeaway holds either way: plastic is Coca-Cola's single biggest waste stream, but cans and glass each add roughly another million tonnes or more on top.
Frequently asked questions about Coca-Cola's waste
Below, the most common questions about Coca-Cola's plastic and waste are answered.
How much waste does Coca-Cola produce each year?
Coca-Cola's largest waste stream is plastic packaging, estimated at around 3.8 million tonnes in 2026 (their most recent disclosed figure is 3.6 million tonnes in 2024). On top of that, we estimate their aluminium cans add roughly 1 to 1.25 million tonnes a year and their glass bottles another 1.5 to 2 million tonnes, though Coca-Cola only publish the plastic figure.
How many plastic bottles does Coca-Cola produce?
Well over 100 billion single-use plastic bottles a year, on Greenpeace's most-cited estimate from 2016. Coca-Cola do not publish an official bottle count of their own.
Is Coca-Cola the world's biggest plastic polluter?
By the Break Free From Plastic brand audit, yes. Coca-Cola have topped the global ranking of branded plastic waste for six years in a row, most recently in the 2023 audit, where their litter turned up across 40 countries.
How much of Coca-Cola's plastic is recycled?
In 2024, 28% of their packaging was recycled material, and just 18% for the plastic in their bottles. The rest is virgin plastic, and Coca-Cola's use of new plastic rose to 2.94 million tonnes that year.
Did Coca-Cola drop their sustainability goals?
They weakened them. In December 2024 they cut the 2030 recycled-content goal, pushed the deadline to 2035, and dropped the reusable-packaging target altogether.
Is Coca-Cola's packaging recyclable?
Coca-Cola say 99% of their packaging is recyclable by design. That describes what could be recycled in principle, not what is actually collected and recycled, which is far lower in most markets.
How do we estimate Coca-Cola's plastic use?
We start from Coca-Cola's own disclosed packaging weight, reported through the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and project it to 2026 at the company's recent growth rate. Where they publish no figure, such as a bottle count, we use the most credible independent estimate and say so.
Images: COSCUP, Larry Koester
