Drinks businesses are struggling to achieve their carbon reduction targets as the plastics recycling sector crisis deepens
The gap between the price of virgin and recycled plastic continues to give multinational drink companies a headache.
“There is a 70% lower carbon footprint with recycled plastic, but virgin plastic is cheaper,” explained Joe Franses, vice-president sustainability at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners.
Franses was speaking during a ‘Pathways to net-zero’ session at January’s Sustainable Foods 2026 conference, held in London.
His comments showed the challenges being faced by drinks companies as they look to meet voluntary recycled content targets and align with regulations both here and in Europe.
Indeed, throughout Europe the plastic recycling sector is in ‘crisis’, according to industry bodies, due to a combination of low market prices and growing stockpiles of PET plastic, commonly used for soft drinks bottles. Meanwhile, input prices for labour and energy have increased significantly.
In October, The Guardian reported that, according to data shared by industry insiders, in the past two years 21 plastic recycling and processing factories across the UK have shut down due to the scale of exports, the cheap price of virgin plastic and an influx of cheap plastic from Asia.
Britain’s exports of plastic waste to developing countries increased by 84% in the first half of this year, in what critics say is unethical and irresponsible waste imperialism.
In the EU it is a similar story. Research reported by ENDS Europe showed sites closing all over Europe, from UK to Austria as well as in Germany, France and the Netherlands. More than 400 kilotonnes of capacity was lost in 2023 and 2024, and by the end of 2025, the bloc will likely have lost around a million tonnes of recycling capacity in the space of three years.
Single-use packaging accounts for a fair portion of overall carbon emissions – often upwards of 40% – for drinks companies. Those in soft drinks rely heavily on plastic, not least because it is lightweight.
“The plastics recycling sector is struggling and shutting down factories,” Nicholas Hodac, director-general at Unesda, told Just-Drinks recently, as his members continue to face high premiums on European rPET.
Some drinks companies have inevitably looked further afield for the recycled materials they need to meet voluntary and looming mandatory targets, but this opens them up to fake recycled PET – plastic labelled ‘recycled’ which is actually virgin.
Relying on cheaper imports could well be a false economy, too, noted Recycling Magazine last month.
“Without a robust verification framework, it is not possible to ensure that imported recycled materials meet EU requirements related to product safety, environmental protection and consumer health. This raises concerns about fair competition and market transparency,” the site reported, adding:
“Although lower-priced imports may appear to reduce costs in the short term, there is limited evidence that these price advantages are consistently passed on to end consumers. Over time, continued pressure on domestic recyclers risks reducing European recycling capacity, employment and investment, while increasing dependence on external supply sources.”
