The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC, Brussels; www.beuc.eu) said it and member associatons from 13 countries have told the European Commission (https://commission.europa.eu) that a number of water bottle companies have been offering statements about their recycling activities which are “either vague, factually inaccurate, or otherwise not substantiated.”

The organisation said the move follows a study conducted with NGOs ClientEarth (London; www.clientearth.org) and the Environmental Coalition on Standards (ECOS, Brussels; www.ecostandard.org) on companies including US-based Coca-Cola (Atlanta, Georgia; www.coca-colacompany.com), France’s Danone (Paris; www.danone.co), and Switzerland’s Nestlé (Vevey; www.nestle.com). 

The consumer group said drinks companies are misleading customers with their “environmentally virtuous” claims that plastic bottles are fully recycled or recyclable. It noted that the term 100% recyclable depends on several factors that are outside a company’s or customer’s control, such as having the necessary and available infrastructure in place.

The group said the EU’s recycling rate for PET beverage bottle bodies is estimated at only 55%, with the chance of bottles becoming bottles again about 30%. 

Related: Environmental groups sue Danone over plastic pollution 

The advocacy organisation said the claim of 100% recycled also wrongly implied that the entire bottle is made from recycled material and fails to account for other components, such as caps, labels, adhesives, and inks. In fact, EU law mandates that bottle lids cannot be made of recycled materials, while adhesives and inks are not even technically recyclable, the group explained.

It added that the use of green imagery also promotes the “false idea of environmental neutrality and endless plastic circularity”.

“This greenwashing must stop,” BEUC deputy director general Ursula Pachl said. “The EU is taking much welcomed steps with how to help clean up the market from deceiving green claims. However, it will take years before new regulatory measures will apply and there is no time to waste, so we expect authorities to take action quickly.”

The commission and the European Parliament said in September 2023 that they had provisionally agreed on new rules that would ban generic sustainability claims. 

Consequently, the BEUC urged the commission to start coordinated action and issue a common position under existing EU rules on unfair commercial practices. “This step is essential not only to enforce the law against the concerned traders but also provide a clear signal and guidance to the whole sector about the misleading nature of these claims,” it said.

Specifically, the consumer group wants companies to stop using “ambiguous” language relating to recyclability and instead provide clear information on both disposal and the quantity of recycled content. 

Where companies make “100% recycled” claims, these should be backed by independent third-party certification. Also, circular and generic environmental imagery and statements should be banned, the group said. 

About 14 companies were contacted for their input into the study, and 11 replied. However, the BEUC said the information provided varied significantly in quality and detail, with some companies failing to offer data that adequately substantiated claims, confirming the group’s reasoning for calling some statements misleading. 

Related: EMF says most firms to miss 2025 packaging targets  

Coca-Cola, Danone, and Nestlé have all previously stated they are working to reduce the amount of plastic packaging they use.  The US-headquartered soft drinks behemoth announced plans to boost the proportion of recycled PET in its packaging to 50% by 2030, while both Danone and Nestlé said they are attempting to make all their packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.