Plastic free soda consumption? Cans aren't the answer

I’m someone who regularly enjoys a nice refreshing soda beverage, be it Coca-Cola, Fanta (owned by the Coca Cola corporation) or Pepsi, to name a few. I’m also someone who is passionate about the environment, particularly when it comes to reducing plastic usage. Putting the two together, it’s quite concerning to know that the Coca Cola company alone produces roughly 108 billion plastic bottles each year globally (Independent, 2019), a lot of which ends up in the ocean. According to Greenpeace (2018), the Coca Cola corporation is the first largest plastic polluter of the ocean. PepsiCo is closely followed, meaning my top three soda beverages of choice are the biggest problem here. Now granted, where I live in the UK, our plastic pollution footprint is significantly lower than that of Asia for example, however I strongly believe boycotting carries a lot of weight. Hitting the sales of big corporations is in my opinion, is one of the best ways to force change. If we show them with our purses and wallets that we don’t want plastic, they’ll be forced to act on it through fear of losing money. They’ll be forced to invent/ use greener materials for their products and packaging, which could have a knock-on effect globally.

So, in order to cut down my plastic footprint, I therefore have a choice, do I stop drinking soda entirely, do I cut down, or do I switch to glass or aluminium can variants? Well despite loving my re-usable water bottle, my taste for soda is too great to simply cut out entirely. Cutting down seems the logical choice, as too much soda is known to be bad for you. The sugar/ fat free aspartame variants don’t fare much better for your health than the full sugar variants either, according to studies (BBC, 2017). For my health, I’m to cut down, which I’m proud to say I have, but I’m still going to want to ditch the plastic bottles and switch to aluminium cans or glass bottles. Well logically to me, aluminium cans are the best choice over glass bottles. The glass ones are not only a fair bit more expensive, but they’re heavy. Heavy means additional fuel is needed to transport them, thus producing more greenhouse gas emissions. Glass is also a problem in my particular area of residence, as the council don’t collect them for recycling. It’s therefore required for residents to take them to a bottle bank themselves for recycling. Now I for one am prepared to do this, but can the majority be bothered to do it? Probably not, so they’ll therefore toss it in the landfill bin. Glass will of course breakdown in landfill, but that’s not what we want. We want it recycled.

This brings me to aluminium cans. They’re light, it typically works out cheaper per millilitre than plastic bottles (if bought in bulk usually) and they can easily be recycled. They’ll also break down if unintentionally exposed to the environment. However, there’s a massive issue, the inside of the can is lined with plastic (Wired, 2014). The cans, unless protected by a plastic inner lining, are at risk of corrosion from the soda. This would not only damage the can and affect the taste, but if exposed to the bare metal could bring health risks. The inner plastic lining therefore seems quite essential then, but of course doesn’t help us if wanting to boycott plastic. The aluminium part of the can would obviously rust away if it were to end up in landfill or the ocean, but the plastic lining would remain.

What’s the solution then? At present it would seem to me that glass bottles are the only viable way to consume soda, if boycotting plastic entirely is your goal. The main trade-offs over plastic bottles and cans would be cost, plus the additional greenhouse gas emissions from transporting the additional weight. It may also require routine trips to the bottle bank to dispose of the empties, but it’s worth it knowing you’re not using plastic. I’d also consider drinking a lot less soda anyway, as it’s not exactly great for your health.