Food and beverage giants Coca-Cola, Nestlé, and Danone have committed to change recycling claims advertised on their plastic bottles following dialogue with the European Commission and the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) network in the wake of a greenwashing alert issued by the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC).

The alert was announced by the BEUC, alongside member organizations from 13 countries, in November 2023, reporting that Coca-Cola, Nestlé, and Danone were making misleading commercial claims about the recyclability of their products.

The BEUC alert highlighted claims of concern such as “100% recyclable,” noting that recyclability depended on factors such as the available infrastructure to collect material, the effectiveness of the sorting process, or appropriate recycling processes, and “100% recycled,” noting that bottle lids and most labels are not made of recycled materials and virgin plastic is often also added, as well as the use of green imagery.

Coca-Cola and Nestlé, concluded their dialogues in June 2025 and February 2026, respectively, while Danone made its commitments this month.

BEUC Director General Agustín Reyna said:

“It is great news that the three companies flagged by consumer organisations, Danone, Nestlé and Coca-Cola, have now committed to changing their practices to stop misleading consumers about the recyclability of their products. Consumers need to be able to trust companies’ environmental claims.”

Following the dialogues, the companies committed to replace claims on bottles such as “I am a bottle made from 100% recycled plastic” with “This bottle is 100% recycled. Excluding cap and label,” to provide clear and factual information, and claims such as “Recycle me again,” with “Recycle me” to ensure that consumers are not given the false impression that the bottle was already recycled before purchase and can be recycled into another bottle again. The companies also pledged to ensure that the overall impression of the label and the marketing is not misleading regarding the inherent environmental benefits of plastic bottles, and that digital marketing campaigns on their websites and social media channels reflect the content of the new commitments.

The Commission said that national consumer protection authorities will monitor the implementation of the new commitments and may proceed with enforcement measures if the companies fail to comply with them.

Michael McGrath, EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, said

“European consumers deserve accurate information about the environmental practices of all companies operating in the Single Market. I welcome the commitment by the three companies to fulfil their responsibilities to ensure that environmental claims on their products are clear, truthful and in line with EU consumer protection laws.”