UK Beverage Companies Join Sustainability Pledge

In order to be more committed to sustainability, several of the UK's top soda providers have committed to lower carbon, lower impact methods of production.

Coca-Cola Enterprises, PepsiCo, and Britvic, as well as half of the other soft drink providers in the UK joined the industry and government sustainability roadmap, which focuses on the industry's environmental impacts throughout the world, according to Business Green.

The roadmap was created after environmental agency Best Foot Forward found that the UK soft drink supply chain emits 4.5 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. The fruit and packaging used in the production of these drinks turned out to be the main source of the emission.

The plans for lower impact include switching to low impact fertilizers when farming fruit and using less packaging. These switches will not only help the environment, but also the economy, food minister David Heath told Business Green.

"The soft drinks sector is a business success story, worth over £14bn to the UK economy and employing over 12,000 people, so it is vital that we work together to improve the environmental performance of the industry," he said.

Though only half of the industry has signed up for the new regulations, Gavin Partington, British Soft Drinks Association's director general, told Business Green he is hopeful others will join and that the impact from even this amount of the industry will be great.

"We are pleased that companies have already signed up to support the Roadmap process, and we look forward to working together to minimize the environmental impact of the sector," he said.