[speff]

If coca cola's your example, then I'm going to affirm that yes, it is the lifestyle that generates garbage. People don't _need_ soda. But they want it at a low price that's cheaper than Pepsi. You know what that means? Coke's going to be shipping in the cheapest container possible to keep the price edge - which is plastic.

If soda drinkers cared about plastic consumption, they would switch to anything that has glass containers and spend more - or just cut the habit due to the waste generated. But that's not happening.

Sure, there can be political will to force Coke to switch to something else - bypassing the need for the customer to do anything - but that would result in higher prices which makes people mad. Good luck asking a politician to do something that will upset their constituents

[panzagl]

Coke used to come in glass bottles that were returned to the store and reused. Consumers didn't change that, the Coca-Cola company changed that.

[blacksmith_tb]

Tea drinker here, but doesn't a lot of soda globally come in aluminum cans, which are actually recyclable?

[chickenchase-r]

check to see what aluminum cans and even the cans of canned food are lined with... It doesnt look so good to me. Without that sealant, metal leeches into the product.

[speff]

Yep. Though I'm hoping my point can be extrapolated outside of the soda example as well. Coke/Soda's just something I'm picking on

[lupire]

It's not Coke vs Pepsi and pricing competition (Coke costs more than it's competitors), it's using a useless manufacturered product and shipping water in a can instead of drinking from the tap and adding a scoop of sugar and spice of your want.

[speff]

It is still a pricing competition. Sure Coke costs more, but they're also riding on their brand recognition to bump up their perceived value. No amount of brand loyalty would save them if they had to undergo the price jump that comes with a massive logistics change of switching off of plastic without a proven alternative.

It might cost a buck more per 6pack for Coke right now - but people aren't going to get it if it costs 2-3x more than Pepsi.

[conductr]

Not sure if that's true. Soda has tripled in the last few years mostly just due to corp greed and realizing people are very stuck (addicted?) to their preferred flavors. Pepsi and Coke are competitors but not substitutes.

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/coca-cola-s...

https://www.vox.com/money/23979340/diet-coke-price-coca-cola...