Coca-Cola Philippines vows to phase out plastic sachets, straws

Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc. (CCBPI) pledged to stop the production of plastic sachets for its powdered concentrates brand, Eight O’Clock, and to replace plastic straws with paper straws for its Nutriboost dairy line and Minute Maid juice range from 2022.

CCBPI officials said that phasing out non-recyclable plastic sachets and plastic straws was due to the challenges in recovering such disposed plastic waste.

The Philippines' Department of Environment and Natural Resources includes plastic straws and coffee stirrers in its list of Non-Environmentally Acceptable Products and Packaging (NEAP).

But stopping sachet production is more significant as it is at the heart of the Philippines' plastic waste problem.

Single-serve sachets of consumer packaged goods targeting low-income consumers began proliferating in the 1990s, which ended up polluting the land and ocean.

According to the ‘Philippine Brand Audit Results 2020’ report of the global environmental coalition, ‘Break Free From Plastic’, 98 percent of total collected plastic waste in the Philippines consisted of non-recyclable single-use plastics, with sachets accounting for the most.

Forty civil-society groups, including Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines, Oceana Philippines, and Ecowaste Coalition, are lobbying for the inclusion of more single-use plastic items in the NEAP list, such as bags, cutlery, bottles, cups, and sachets.