Comments on: Coke, Pepsi Listed Among Beijing’s Dirty Dozen Water Polluters

By: Huw Gilbert

Huw Gilbert — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 01:46:16 +0000

Hello. This Huw from PepsiCo. I’m an associate of Dan Bena, who was recently a guest columnist for Environmental Leader (I see his photo on the right side of the page there). I wanted to clarify that the inclusion of our Beijing plant on the government’s list simply reflects that the plant is a large user of water. PepsiCo’s Beijing plant strictly adheres to all national standards for wastewater treatment and emissions. Actually, our China beverage plants were recognized last year by the Beijing Water Resources Bureau and the China Beverages Industry Association for water conservation efforts. We encourage consumers to read the clarification released by the Beijing authorities and published by the Xinhua news service, which can be found here: http://english.cri.cn/6909/2009/08/21/1821s510259.htm.

We are committed to continuing to work with the Chinese Government to further reduce our water use in China and around the world in accordance with our relentless company-wide efforts in the areas of water conservation, reuse and supply(http://www.pepsico.com/Purpose/Environment/Water.html).

Thanks,

Huw Gilbert
PepsiCo International

By: Michael Sater

Michael Sater — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:17:06 +0000

Are Coca-Cola and Pepsi the manufacturers of the syrup or are they the bottlers as well? Additionally, why is Coca-Cola Enterprises mentioned when they do not have any bottling plants in Asia? And what are the details of the report?

By: Sandra Henry

Sandra Henry — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:15:03 +0000

While the headlines purports Pepsi and Coke are listed among Beijing’s top dozen water polluters, the article is very short on any details that substantiate the headline. The writer seems to spend more time defending Coca Cola rather than sharing the detsils of the report. What was the point of the article? Poor writing, indeed.

By: Ann Moore

Ann Moore — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:19:16 +0000

Hey, Ann from The Coca-Cola Company here. I think it’s important for everyone to understand that our Beijing bottler fully complies with the local government’s wastewater standards. The government has not suggested that any violations have occurred.

We appreciate the government’s efforts to improve water quality and conserve natural resources by closely monitoring businesses that use comparatively large amounts of water.

At Coca-Cola, we take our responsibility for water stewardship very seriously. We continually strive to improve our overall water efficiency and have set a goal of returning to communities and to nature an amount of water equal to that used in our products and their production.

For more information on our water stewardship, please go to http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/index.html

Ann Moore
Communications Director
The Coca-Cola Company