Companies like Nestle and Coca-Cola are eager to use more recycled material — here’s why that actually raises concerns over sustainability

Companies like Nestle and Coca-Cola are eager to use more recycled material — here’s why that actually raises concerns over sustainability

The clothing brand Patagonia was one of the first to start producing recycled polyester from plastic soda bottles back in 1993. The company, known for its , has incorporated the recycled material into many of its items and said that 89% of the polyester in was made from recycled polyester. But as companies like Coca-Cola, Nestle, and Adidas actively seek to reduce their use of virgin plastic as part of long-term efforts to be more sustainable and for post-consumer resin, or PCR, made from plastic soda bottles kick in, demand is expected to exceed the available supply in the US and European Union, causing . The issues around recycled polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, highlight many of the business challenges that can accompany ambitious corporate sustainability goals that overlap with other organizations. Companies urgently need to implement alternative processes and materials on a larger scale to reduce carbon emissions and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. But implementing these new methods can be much more complicated than expected, even with the resources of a multinational company. Recycled PET, commonly known as rPET, is a type of post-consumer plastic used to make several types of products. These include plastic bottles, food