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Shareholder resolution filed with Coca-Cola Co.

BOSTON — The socially responsive investment firm Walden Asset Management has filed a shareholder proposal with Coca-Cola requesting that the board of directors review the container recycling program and report on a recycling strategy that includes a publicly stated, quantitative goal for enhanced rates of beverage container recovery. As You Sow (AYS), a San-Francisco-based foundation, co-filed the shareholder proposal.

Walden, a division of Boston Trust & Investment Management, and AYS hold shares of Coca-Cola stock on behalf of clients whose portfolios seek to achieve social as well as financial objectives.

Walden and AYS believe that Coca-Cola Company has made substantial progress toward its goal to incorporate 10% recycled content resin into its plastic beverage containers in North America by year-end 2005. However, Coca-Cola Company has resisted adopting a publicly stated, quantitative goal to increase beverage container recovery rates. Walden and AYS believe both recycled content and container recovery goals are essential to an effective recycling strategy.

Walden and AYS noted, based on technical assistance from CRI, that U.S. recycling rates for beverage containers have declined significantly in recent years. Nevertheless, Coca-Cola actively opposes container deposit systems without putting forth a solution capable of achieving comparable recovery rates. In response to inquiries from CRI, Walden noted that a similar shareholder proposal may be filed with PepsiCo.

Germany’s deposit law upheld

BERLIN — After more than 10,000 court cases filed by the retail and beverage industries, Germany’s mandatory deposit law remains on the books. Chancellor-elect Angela Merkel has stated that in her opinion the debate is over and that the deposit issue is not on the list of her political targets.

The law, created by the German Packaging Ordinance, requires a 25-cent refundable deposit on beer, water and carbonated drinks. The Packaging Ordinance was amended in 2004, repealing the refillable quota that had been in effect for over a decade and expanding the law to include non-carbonated soft drinks.

As of May 2006, retailers must take back all packaging made of the same material they sell (glass, plastics, and cans) including brands they don’t sell.

EPA seeks to boost beverage container recycling

WASHINGTON, DC — In an effort to increase recovery and recycling of beverage containers, and to increase falling container recycling rates, the US Environmental Protection Agency held a series of stakeholder meetings in 2005 involving state government officials, NGO’s (including CRI), and companies engaged in processing and/or recycling rigid containers.

As of this writing, the beverage producers have not yet agreed to a meeting with EPA, but officials are hopeful that they will participate in the ongoing dialogue on beverage container recycling in 2006.