American Beverage Statement on the Dismissal of Baltimore Lawsuit Against Beverage Companies

WASHINGTON - American Beverage today reacted to the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the City of Baltimore in June 2024 in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. The Court recognized that public nuisance law does not hold manufacturers of lawful products liable for alleged harms arising from the disposal of those products by third parties.

"America's beverage industry has been part of the fabric of every American community for more than a century - our employees live in these communities, our facilities operate in them, and our success depends on the long-term well-being and vitality of the communities where we operate. Because of that, supporting and encouraging bottle collection - so bottles are recycled and remade as intended - is both a civic and business priority. We're carefully designing our bottles to be 100% recyclable, and we're investing $100 million in modern recycling systems and partnering with environmental groups to advocate for effective recycling policies that help increase the use of recycled materials and support a more circular economy."

BACKGROUND

• Our plastic bottles are the most recyclable and recycled plastic in the US.
• Our Every Bottle Back^® initiative launched in 2019 by The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo has invested in recycling improvements across 73 communities - including Baltimore - that are estimated to yield 730 million new pounds of recycled PET and more than 47 million pounds of recycled aluminum over the next decade.
• In Baltimore, America's beverage companies - together with the Recycling Partnership, Closed Loop Partners and others - invested $9.5 million to provide free large-capacity recycling carts to 205,000 households to help the city collect and process more recyclable materials. The 2021 investment included a recycling education campaign to inform the community about best recycling practices. The larger, lidded carts were designed to assist Baltimore's transition to automated recycling collection, a process that does not require collection staff to leave the truck's cab and enables safer and more efficient collection.
• Every Bottle Back^® is directing the equivalent of $400 million to The Recycling Partnership and Closed Loop Partners through a $100 million investment by the beverage industry. Our funds are being matched three-to-one by other grants and investors.
• Beverage companies have joined with leading environmental groups such as World Wildlife Fund to support modernized collection systems that work in Europe and Canada to produce a circular economy for all recyclables with high recycling rates.
• We have helped enact statewide EPR systems recently in Colorado, Maryland and Minnesota based on the model proven successful elsewhere to raise recycling rates. This legislation reflects the American Beverage-World Wildlife Foundation Extended Producer Responsibility principles.

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