As the world's largest soft drink manufacturer seeks to reduce its carbon footprint, Coca-Cola is dedicated to gathering and recycling plastic bottles rather than moving to aluminum cans, the chief executive told Reuters.
Together with global competitors such as PepsiCo and Nestle, Coca-Cola has started to sell recyclable aluminum cans as well as plastic bottles for some beverage products as the company responds with public outrage over the world's toxic waste-polluted seas.
But the release of a collection of cans of sparkling water in the United States by Coca-Cola is not part of a wider change, CEO James Quincey said during an interview in the financial city Lagos in Nigeria.
"We are not trying to develop a structural change from plastic to aluminum," Quincey said, noting that the business was "based on recycling" and had a collection level of around 59 percent.
Quincey said that the U.S. imported duties were 25 percent on iron and 10 percent on aluminum. "It's not that significant that it will affect the plan for us," Quincey said about the tariff effect.
"Because of the relative weight of aluminum in our overall business, there has not been a major change in strategy - just a cost increase that has fed through our customers," he said.
Coca-Cola promised to buy and reuse a container last year or to market it worldwide by 2030. The beverage giant has adopted various methods for gathering bottles around the globe.
This uses a deposit return system in some countries which encourages customers to return bottles in exchange for rewards such as money, coupons or a point scheme.
It also partners with private firms to recover discarded containers using collection officers. "A reused container of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) has a much lower carbon footprint than a steel or a glass bottle that has been discarded," Quincey added.
He said the company's latest strategy in protecting the environment is a "better long-term solution" to gather and recycle bottles than to turn to cans.
Meanwhile, at the latest trading session, Coca-Cola Company closed at $52.76, marking a 0.64 move late Wednesday.
In the last trading session, the company's overall total amount was 10,108,933 stocks while its relative frequency of trading is 0.91.
Next year's earnings per share growth is projected at 7.25 percent, while this year's EPS growth is forecast at 41.6 percent. The company's EPS in the next five year years is estimated to hit 4.70 percent.
