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Beijing explains why Coke, Pepsi made top polluters list

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-21 12:59

Beijing authorities said Thursday US soft drink giants PepsiCo and Coca-Cola reach Chinese standards for waste water emission but they have the potential to further reduce emission.

The Beijing Development and Reform Commission (DRC) and Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau (EPU) on Monday published an environmental watch list which included the two companies among the "key water polluting factories".

Any enterprises that discharge pollutants to water, no matter whether they reached standards or not, are considered as polluting factories, said a spokesman with the EPU.

By the term "key water polluting factories", it means the enterprises use a large amount of water and belong to chemical, medicine, electric, beverage, brewage and food manufacturing, the spokesman said.

PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are comparatively large users of water and belong to the beverage industry, so they were listed, he said.

"The listed companies have reached the Chinese standards for pollutants emission," he said. "But there is no best, but better, in environmental protection."

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If these companies adopt advanced technologies, use clean energy and raw materials, reduce pollutants emissions and increase energy efficiency, they can play a model role for other companies and make more contribution to the environmental improvement of Beijing, he said.

The spokesman for Coca-Cola said the company would work closely with Beijing authorities on their review of its operations there.

The Beijing Coca-Cola Beverage Company meets municipal waste water effluent standards as well as the stringent standards set by the Coca-Cola Company, the company's statement said.

"In addition to complying with waste water standards, the Coca-Cola system is working to improve the efficiency of our water use in all of our facilities. Globally, our goal is to improve efficiency by 20 percent by 2012," it said.

The Tsingtao brewery in Beijing, top juice maker Huiyuan and several major Chinese dairy producers, were also listed as major water polluters.