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Two health experts on Tuesday called for Olympic organisers to cut ties with major sponsor Coca-Cola, saying the current big money sponsorship deal allows the US company to \u201csportswash\u201d unhealthy sugary drinks.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the Paris Olympics organising committee said on Tuesday it would meet its target to reduce single-use plastics by half compared to the 2012 London Games, despite plastic bottles by Coca-Cola being widely used on its sites.<\/p>\n
Events at the Paris Games have been lined with advertising for the ubiquitous fizzy drinks of Coca-Cola, which has been sponsoring the Olympics since 1928.<\/p>\n
But these sugary drinks \u201coffer little or no nutritional value\u201d and promoting such unhealthy products has no place in sport, according to Trish Cotter and Sandra Mullin of global health group Vital Strategies.<\/p>\n
Sugary drinks are a \u201ckey driver\u201d of a range of serious health problems affecting people across the world, including obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, the pair wrote in a commentary in the journal BMJ Global Health.<\/p>\n
Coca-Cola\u2019s products also contribute to global plastic pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and use up a huge amount of water, they added.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy continuing its association with Coca-Cola, the Olympic movement risks being complicit in intensifying a global epidemic of poor nutrition, environmental degradation and climate change,\u201d the authors wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to cut ties with Coca-Cola in the interest of athletes, spectators and the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coca-Cola did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Olympic staff have also been seen emptying plastic bottles into reusable cups \u2014 a practice some say runs counter to the Games\u2019 pledge to be the greenest in history.<\/p>\n
The Coca-Cola Company in May said nearly 10 out of 18 million refreshments \u2014 \u201cmore than half\u201d of all those served to spectators \u2014 would be \u201cwithout single-use plastic\u201d.<\/p>\n
But the Atlanta-based giant said it has had to use plastics due to \u201ctechnical and logistical constraints\u201d, despite Paris banning spectators from bringing single-use containers to Olympics sites.<\/p>\n
At the site for the swimming events for example, glass bottles were being emptied into red-and-white cups, as noted by one AFP journalist.<\/p>\n
While 700 drink fountains have been deployed across the competition, plastic bottles are being used where glass alternatives aren\u2019t an option, said Georgina Grenon, the head of sustainability for the Paris Games.<\/p>\n
In a press release on Friday Coca-Cola said it needed to adapt to each location and find the \u201cbest conditions for safety and food quality\u201d, given technical and logistical constraints including water and electricity supplies, and storage space.<\/p>\n
But this year\u2019s Paris Games should still slash plastics use compared to the 2012 London Games, according to the organising committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our estimations of what will be served\u2026 we believe we will attain this 50 percent plastic single-use plastic reduction,\u201d said Grenon.<\/p>\n
The bottles poured into cups would not count towards this target, she added.<\/p>\n
Environmental protection charity France Nature Environment (FNE) slammed the firm for \u201cunjustified plastic pollution\u201d, adding on Friday that the US company deserved the \u201cgold medal for greenwashing\u201d during the Olympics.<\/p>\n
In 2020, Coca-Cola signed a joint deal worth a reported $3 billion to extend its sponsorship of the Olympics.<\/p>\n
The partnership will last until at least 2032.<\/p>\n
In 2022, the most recent data available, Coca-Cola, which is one of the world\u2019s top plastics producers, manufactured 134 billion plastic bottles.<\/p>\n
The beverage giant has set a target for all its bottles to be made from fully recycled plastic by 2030.<\/p>\n
Of those currently filling rubbish bins at the Paris Games, Coca-Cola said around 6.2 million would be from this form, known as PET plastic.<\/p>\n
Cotter and Mullin of Vital Strategies noted that last year Coca-Cola had more sports sponsorships than any other brand, including sportswear companies such as Nike.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis strategy culminates in a gold medal opportunity to \u2018sportswash\u2019 an unhealthy product,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n
The World Health Organization has called for countries to tax sugar-sweetened beverages.<\/p>\n
A petition launched ahead of the Games called \u201cKick Big Soda Out of Sport\u201d has more than 109,000 signatures, and been backed by a range of public health organisations including the World Obesity Federation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n