Coca-Cola, Nestlé and Danone agree to revise EU plastic bottle recycling claims

What the companies agreed

The European Commission announced on Thursday, 22 October 2026, that Coca-Cola, Nestlé and Danone have committed to change how they label single-use plastic bottles in the EU. The aim is to correct recycling information that misled consumers. The commitments came out of a dialogue with the Commission, the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) network and the companies.

The most visible change concerns the claim that a bottle is made from 100% recycled plastic. Labels reading "This bottle is made from 100% recycled plastic" will be replaced with wording such as "This bottle is 100% recycled. Excluding the cap and label". A second change targets the phrase "Recycle me again", which will become "Recycle me". The word "again" will be dropped so consumers are not left with the impression that a bottle was already recycled before purchase and can be turned into another bottle.

Beyond the labels, the overall impression of the packaging and marketing must not mislead about the environmental benefits of plastic bottles, for instance by pairing them with other green claims or symbols. Digital campaigns on company websites and social media channels must also reflect the commitments.

How the case unfolded

The dispute began with a complaint from BEUC, the European consumer organisation, filed in November 2023 according to N-tv. BEUC accused the companies of greenwashing, arguing that their bottles were advertised as 100% recycled although neither the cap nor the label was. The group also said caps and labels were rarely made from recycled material and that the bottles cannot be recycled endlessly.

After the dialogue, the European Commission and national authorities reviewed the revised claims and found them consistent with EU consumer protection law. Coca-Cola and Nestlé had already begun changing bottle printing in the months before the announcement, according to N-tv. Danone's change adds the qualifier "without cap and label" to its "100 percent recycled" claim.

Enforcement and what comes next

The Commission said Coca-Cola and Nestlé have already implemented some of the commitments within the agreed deadlines, notably the recycling claims used in digital campaigns. National consumer protection authorities will monitor how the commitments are carried out and may pursue enforcement action if companies fail to comply. BEUC said it expects the authorities to check whether all three companies keep their promises.

Commissioner for Justice and Consumer Protection Michael McGrath welcomed the three companies' commitment to meet their responsibilities so that environmental claims on their products are clear, truthful and compliant with EU consumer law. BEUC chief Augustín Reyna said consumers must be able to trust companies' environmental promises, and that suggesting plastic drinks bottles have no environmental impact is misleading and must stop.

Plastic output keeps rising

The case sits within a wider debate on plastics and packaging. Plastics Europe, the European plastics lobby, put global virgin plastic production at 430.9 million tonnes in 2024, up 4% on 2023. Asia produced 57.2% of the total and China alone 34.5%, according to the same source. La Libre reports that EU production is declining while Europe imports more plastic from Asia.