Why Plastic?

The soft drinks industry has faced growing criticism of the use of single-use plastic. In 2018 Coca-Cola, the world’s largest soft drinks producer, set ambitious targets to reduce the amount of its plastic packaging that ends up in the environment. It said that by 2030 it would collect one bottle or can for every one it sold and make them from 50% recycled material. Coke’s plan is to eliminate waste by turning old bottles into new ones. In this film, we investigate Coca-Cola’s World Without Waste strategy. Could it be a shining example for the whole beverage industry? Or is Coke’s plan to recycle its way out of the problem fundamentally flawed? And how well, after three years, is Coca-Cola doing around the world in meeting the commitments it has made?

In the last few years the plastic pollution crisis has become an international scandal with pictures of dead animals, littered rivers, and polluted oceans shocking the world. The plastic packaging industry declares that recycling solves the problem and stamp their products with the words ‘100% recyclable’ to reassure consumers that their packaging purchases are guilt-free. But if it is really the solution, why is the world pumping out more virgin plastic than ever before? It is greenwashing? We follow the money into an industry that’s designed to hide the problem rather than solve it, such as black-market brokers and organised criminals who hunt for countries to dump our plastic. It is now as lucrative as human trafficking. We also how some of the biggest consumer-goods brands spin the recycling fairytale as a way to allow them to continue polluting without consequence.

Could it be that we are all involuntary participants in a huge experiment, threatening humankind? Researchers affirm that, as plastic has gained ground in our lives over the years, there has been an inexplicable exponential increase in a number of diseases and disorders, such as cancer or ADHD. Are they just unfortunate coincidences - or is there an explanation? The researchers are in no doubt. They know that our natural hormones can be disturbed by chemicals from, among other things, plastic. Experiments on animals have shown that it is especially in fetal life that adverse health effects can occur. Before you were even born, it could be that you were pre-programmed to get various diseases and disorders later in life.