Admittedly, you would likely fancy that the first news item of the year be something hopeful or an exceptionally designed doodad that gets our heads spinning about the promise of 2025. There’s a good chance you would also prefer something that wasn’t announced and reported on early last December. 

Last month, Coca-Cola announced they would “evolve” their “voluntary” environmental goals around packaging waste by pushing them out to 2035. Initially, the brand claimed they would use 50% recycled materials by 2030—now, it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 35% to 40% and five years further down the road. Coca-Cola also wanted to collect a bottle or can for each one they sold (remember the World Without Waste pledge? Remember?). Instead, they’ll collect 70% to 75%.

Recycling is hard, I guess!