BEUC News – 9 December 2025

“Made of 100% recycled plastic”, “100% recyclable” …  Claims and green imagery can be found on everyday products, especially plastic bottles. Such marketing misleads consumers into believing that buying bottled water has no impact on the environment. Yet, plastic takes centuries to decompose; it cannot be recycled endlessly, and a bottle will always contain a share of virgin plastic.

In November 2023, with the support of environmental groups ClientEarth and Ecos, BEUC lodged an EU complaint asking national consumer protection authorities (the CPC-Network) to investigate such greenwashing practices. Two years on, our complaint is still pending. Whereas there have been some welcome developments, recycling claims remain common on plastic water bottles. Here is an update.

Why are plastic recycling claims a problem?  

According to a 2024 Ipsos survey, when plastic products feature claims like ‘fully recyclable’ or ‘contains recycled plastic’ on their labels, between 58% and 72% of consumers in France, Poland, Germany and the UK perceive them as not ‘harmful’ to the environment - not even just ‘neutral’ for the environment but as ‘environmentally positive’.    

This hides the harsh truth that most plastic ends up in landfills, incinerated or discarded in nature. Plastic production is expected to triple by 2060, and as it stands currently, only 9% of plastic ever made has been recycled.  

This does not mean recycling is useless, but it does mean that companies must stop exaggerating recycling into a solution for plastic pollution.  

What happened since BEUC and partners denounced plastic recycling claims?

In August 2024, the Hungarian consumer authority Gazdasági Versenyhivatal announced an investigation into environmental claims on PET bottles such as “bottles to bottles”, “100% recyclable”, “100% recycled PET bottle”.  

In May 2025, following our complaint, Coca-Cola voluntarily committed to the European Commission and the CPC-Network to improve its communication towards consumers. The group’s promises include replacing claims such as “Recycle me again” with “Recycle me”, clarifying that the recycling process is not a closed loop, and avoiding the association of claims with green imagery. Claims by other traders Danone and Nestlé are still under discussion. This declaration serves as a starting point for national regulators, who must now enforce oversight of European markets to ensure that consumers are no longer misled about the true impact of plastic packaging on people and the natural environment.

In September 2025, ClientEarth launched a court case against Nestlé Poland for using misleading recycling claims on plastic water bottles. In Poland, water bottles from one of Nestlé’s water brands display recycling claims on their labels such as ‘I am made from another bottle’, ‘I am recyclable’ and ‘made from 100% recycled plastic PET’.

Greenwashing still a reality on plastic bottles

Despite these improvements, a quick look in supermarkets in Belgium, Italy and Spain proved that plastic recycling claims are still commonly found on plastic bottles, as shown below. Consumer groups urge the authorities to speed up their investigation.

For more information, visit our action page and watch our vox pop of what European consumers think of such claims.