In 1970, Coca-Cola investigated the environmental impact of making reusable glass bottles and found single-use plastic bottles could be better in many contexts. It switched to plastic in the early 1990s.
Plastic these days is framed as a problem to be solved. There is global momentum to ban plastic, particularly single-use packaging. The EU has issued directives, the UN Environment Assembly has committed to end plastic pollution and charitable organisations have formed global plastic pacts. The environmental impacts of proliferating plastic packaging are mounting, and there's evidence microplastic particles are ending up in human food, the effects on human health starting to garner attention.
So it seems paradoxical that Coca-Cola could have chosen plastic on the basis of environmental values.
