New Legislation by Senator Jeffords Holds Beverage Industry Responsible for Recycling 80 Percent of Bottles and Cans

Energy Saved Would Meet Electricity Needs of 5 Million Households

WASHINGTON, DC (APRIL 22, 2002) -- Environmental leaders joined U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords (I-VT) today on Capitol Hill to support new legislation holding the beverage industry responsible for increasing bottle and can recycling.

"More than 114 billion beverage containers were thrown away rather than recycled in 1999, a 50 percent increase in bottle and can waste since 1992. Marketing strategies and packaging choices made by beverage companies are key factors in the growing waste problem," Pat Franklin, Executive Director of the Container Recycling Institute, said. CRI is a national, nonprofit organization based in Arlington, VA.

"Senator Jeffords is taking a new approach by setting a national performance standard for beverage container recycling-achieving an 80 percent national recycling rate, and by holding beverage companies directly responsible for meeting that standard," Franklin said.

Under the Jeffords bill, the nation's soft drink, beer and other beverage companies would be required to develop plans using a 10-cent refundable deposit on beverage containers to achieve the national standard. Plans would be submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for approval.

Environmental leaders from the Container Recycling Institute, Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, Friends of the Earth, GrassRoots Recycling Network and the Natural Resources Defense Council joined Senator Jeffords at the news conference.

"The beverage industry knows what works to recover containers because they invented the deposit system for refillable glass bottles, and they operate the system in the 10 U.S. states where they are required to do it. Those 10 states with deposits recycle more bottles and cans than all the other 40 states together," said Bill Sheehan, Executive Director of the GrassRoots Recycling Network, which is based in Athens, Georgia.

"What's new about the Jeffords approach is that it will result in a system designed by beverage producers, not imposed on them. It allows industry do what industry does best, design a cost-effective system that gets the job done. Government does what government does best -- setting standards in the public interest, monitoring progress and ensuring compliance," Sheehan said.

The 10 states with deposit laws are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Michigan, Oregon, and Vermont.

"The federal government has established performance standards in laws such as the Clean Air Act. What Senator Jeffords proposes is good for the environment and for business, because industry knows what is expected and has the flexibility to develop the most efficient recycling systems," Friends of the Earth President Brent Blackwelder said. FOE is an international environmental organization based in Washington, D.C.

CRI Senior Policy Analyst Lance King explained two key factors contributing to the waste problem. "Marketing beverages for away from home consumption and the shift to plastic bottles have fueled the beverage container waste problem," King said.

"Achieving an 80 percent recycling rate would produce major benefits in energy conservation, saving the equivalent of 640 million barrels of oil over a ten year period or enough electricity to meet the needs of 5 million households a year," King said.

"Requiring a 10-cent refundable deposit would lead to a doubling of the national beverage container recycling rate within the next several years. Michigan has a 10-cent deposit and the highest recycling rate in the nation - 95 percent or higher since its deposit law was passed," Franklin said.

CRI and GRRN cited a new study by businesses and environmentalists showing that deposit systems result in the highest level of recycling - with 422 bottles and cans recycled per capita, compared to only 127 beverage containers recycled per capita through curbside recycling in non-deposit states.*

"Vermont's bottle deposit law has been in place now for 30 years. As is the case in other 'Bottle Bill' states, the program is among the most successful and popular of Vermont's environmental laws," said Joan Mulhern, legislative counsel for Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, the nation's largest nonprofit environmental law firm. "It's time for Congress to apply the successful deposit system across the nation."

For more information, visit GRRN and CRI on the Internet at: www.grrn.org/beverage/deposits/ and www.container-recycling.org.

NEWS RELEASE
April 17, 2001

Contact: Lance King (703) 536-7282 or (706) 613-7121

Coca-Cola Faces Recycling Challenge

76 investors, public officials, businesses, environmental and community leaders urge support for shareholder resolution, item 5 at Coke's annual meeting.

NEW YORK, NY (April 17, 2001) - Making an appeal to The Coca-Cola Company's board of directors, an environmental group released today a letter signed by a diverse coalition of leaders urging support for setting recycling goals and developing a plan to meet them.

"Investors, public officials, businesses, environmental and community leaders share a common objective, which is halting the wasting of Coke bottles and cans," said Bill Sheehan, national network coordinator for the Athens, Georgia-based GrassRoots Recycling Network.

"Shareholders can send the Coke board of directors a clear message by voting for Item 5, the recycling resolution, at the April 18 annual shareholder meeting in Wilmington, Delaware," Sheehan said. "For information on the resolution visit our Internet web site at www.grrn.org."

Domini Social Investments, based in New York, explained why it is co-sponsoring the Coca-Cola shareholder resolution. "In our view, a firm's commitment to responsible management of its waste stream is an essential component of sound corporate management, and a strong contributor to shareholder value. As the industry leader, we believe Coke has a responsibility to develop a more comprehensive recycling policy with clear goals that raise the bar for the beverage industry," said Adam Kanzer, general counsel for Domini Social Investments.

Shareholder groups have been discussing recycling concerns with Coca-Cola management for two years. The recycling resolution calls upon the company to achieve specific recycling targets by January 1, 2005: using 25 percent recycled plastic to make new bottles and reaching an 80 percent national recycling rate for bottles and cans.

"We are encouraged by Coke's responsiveness to our concerns, and hope that shareholders will take this opportunity to send management a further message of encouragement by voting to support our resolution," Kanzer said. "We hold 717,300 shares of the Coca-Cola Company in the Domini Social Equity Fund's (Ticker: DSEFX) socially and environmentally screened portfolio."

Pat Franklin, executive director of the Arlington, Virginia-based Container Recycling Institute said, "In the 24 hours from releasing this appeal to Coca-Cola's board of directors to the vote at the shareholders meeting tomorrow, more than 54 million empty Coke soft drink bottles and cans will be thrown away. It's a terrible waste of precious natural resources and the energy needed to make more plastic and aluminum beverage containers."

News Release

April 18, 2001

Contact:

Lance King (703) 536-7282 or (706) 613-7121

Coca-Cola Shareholders Vote On Recycling - 'Better Than Expected'

88.9 million shares voted 'Yes' on recycling means supporters can bring measure back again, according to rules set by U.S. SEC

WILMINGTON, DELAWARE (April 18, 2001) - Investors with 88.9 million shares of Coca-Cola stock, worth more than 4 billion dollars, voted to support a shareholder resolution on recycling at the company's annual meeting today

Supporters of the recycling resolution secured enough support to bring the proposal back again next year, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules governing shareholder proposals.

"We did better than expected. When you combine the yes votes and those who abstained, roughly 10 percent of the votes went against the Coca-Cola management's recommendation opposing the recycling resolution. That's an excellent result for a first vote on any shareholder resolution," said Lance King, speaking on behalf of environmental groups and individual investors supporting the recycling proposal (Item 5) on Coke's agenda.

Conrad MacKerron, representing the Education Foundation of America and Walden Asset Management, co-sponsors of the shareholder resolution, made the presentation in support of the shareholder proposal. The non-binding proposal calls for Coca-Cola to achieve two specific recycling goals by January 1, 2005:

• Make plastic bottles with 25 percent recycled plastic; and
• Take steps to achieve an 80 percent recycling rate for Coke bottles and cans.

"Recycling rates for beverages sold by Coca-Cola and its competitors dropped dramatically in recent years, as plastic bottles and other throwaway beverage containers proliferate," said Pat Franklin, a Coke shareholder and executive director of the nonprofit Container Recycling Institute, based in Arlington, Virginia.

Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO Douglas Daft made two significant announcements in response to the shareholder proposal on recycling. First, Daft said that Coca-Cola plans to use 10 percent recycled plastic in its bottles by 2005. Second, Daft said Coke is working with a newly formed alliance called BEAR - Businesses and Environmentalists Allied for Recycling.

In a question and answer session, Bill Sheehan of the GrassRoots Recycling Network noted that Coke uses 25 percent recycled plastic in other countries, such as Daft's native Australia, and Sheehan asked "why not in the United States?"

Sheehan also presented a letter in support of the shareholder resolution on recycling, addressed to the Coca-Cola Board of Directors, and signed by 76 investors, public officials, businesses, environmental and community leaders.

Bob Woodall, an Atlanta-shareholder and executive director of Waste Not Georgia, said after the vote: "Unless a financial incentive is established, like the refundable deposits in 10 states with bottle bill laws, Coke will find it difficult or impossible to meet the goal of making plastic bottles with 10 percent recycled plastic."

Institutional investors co-sponsoring the shareholder recycling resolution called on Coca-Cola to stop opposing bottle bills or come up with another method to achieve the 80 percent recycling rate, which is the current average in states with refundable deposits.

"The vote today assures shareholders that recycling will stay on the agenda in discussion with top management at Coca-Cola and can be brought back again next year, if necessary. Coca-Cola is beginning to address the problem," King said.

Pepsi, by contrast, is doing nothing to address these problems and fought unsuccessfully before the SEC to block a similar shareholder recycling proposal, according to the environmental groups. The Pepsi shareholder vote is scheduled May 2 in Dallas, Texas.