Olympic athletes tell Coca-Cola, Pepsi to end plastic pollution

By Marianne Gros | 07/11/2024 12:26 PM EDT

The push comes ahead of the imminent 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.

More than 100 athletes have called on beverage giants Coca-Cola and Pepsi to stop selling single-use plastic bottles and promote reusable products when they sponsor sports events.

The push comes ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic games, which begin on July 26 and which Coca-Cola is sponsoring.

In a letter sent Wednesday to the CEOs of the Coca-Cola Co., its European subsidiary Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and American rival PepsiCo, 102 current and former athletes — 22 of whom are competing in Paris — urge the companies to end plastic pollution “in the spirit of the Olympics and sport.”

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Signatories include the French Olympic gold medalist windsurfer Charline Picon, Irish equestrian silver medalist Sarah Ennis, and American swimmer and two-time Olympic gold medalist Zach Apple, as well as athletes from Germany, Sweden, Poland, Nigeria and Mexico. Nine international sporting organizations also signed the letter.

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