Massive new facility will help address growing global issue: 'A landmark initiative'
At the new facility, plastic bottles will be cleaned, processed, and sent to third-party companies for recycling into pellets or yarn for reuse as recycled plastic.
"This hub will serve as a critical center for collecting, sorting, and recycling PET plastics, which will significantly reduce plastic pollution in our environment," Lagos Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu said in a press release.
According to Break Free From Plastic, The Coca-Cola Co. is ranked as the top plastic polluter in the world — a title it has held for six years straight.
Coca-Cola said the facility will help support its sustainability goals of using 35% to 40% recycled material in its plastic, glass, and aluminum packaging. Through the facility, the brand also wants to collect and process 70% to 75% of the equivalent number of bottles and cans it brings to market by 2035.
"This facility represents a significant milestone in our journey of reducing waste by collecting and recycling our packaging in Nigeria," Zoran Bogdanovic, chief executive officer of Nigerian Bottling Co., Coca‑Cola's bottling partner in Nigeria, said in the press release. "By investing in the hub, we are supporting local communities and creating jobs, as well as demonstrating our commitment to building a more sustainable future in a country that is integral to the success of our business."
Every minute, more than 1 million plastic bottles are bought worldwide, according to Beyond Plastics. And all that plastic can cause serious strain on the planet. At least 15 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean each year. Experts predict that plastic in the ocean will outweigh fish by 2050 unless something changes.
Plastic also never truly biodegrades in the environment. It simply turns into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastics, contaminating waterways, soil, air — everything.
But discarded plastics aren't the only environmental strain. So is plastic production. The United Nations Environment Programme calls the production of plastic one of the most energy-intensive manufacturing processes in the world. That's because plastic is made from fossil fuels such as crude oil, requiring intense mining, refining, and processing to create a final product. And in each step of the plastic-making process, a massive amount of planet-warming pollution is expelled into our environment.
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In 2022, Coca-Cola pledged to make 25% of its packaging reusable by 2030. But the company quietly removed the promise from its website earlier this year.
While Coca-Cola has made some strides toward sustainability, including powering production facilities with solar and supporting plastic cleanup efforts, the company has also made several missteps. The beverage giant recently debuted a commercial made by wasteful generative artificial intelligence, which can have a detrimental impact on the environment. The company also recently told investors it will increase plastic packaging if aluminum prices rise under the Trump administration's new 25% tax on metal imports.
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Newsweek
3 hours ago
- Newsweek
Trump's BLS Pick Fuels Fears of Rigged CPI, Social Security COLA Cuts
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. President Donald Trump's nomination of E.J. Antoni, a Heritage Foundation economist, to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has triggered concerns over the potential politicization of key economic data—particularly the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is used to calculate Social Security cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) for seniors. "Seniors should know that the COLA on their Social Security benefits is tied to the CPI," former Treasury official Bruce Bartlett posted on X this week. "If the CPI is artificially reduced, as Trump wants, your benefits will be reduced." Antoni has repeatedly described Social Security as unsustainable and has advocated for its eventual phase-out. In a 2024 radio interview, he called the 90-year-old program a "Ponzi scheme," arguing that current beneficiaries should continue receiving benefits, but future retirees should not rely on it. "Eventually you need to sunset the program," Antoni said last December. He argued that while current beneficiaries would remain protected, younger Americans should transition to private accounts. "The people who are going to retire 10, 20, even 30, or certainly 40 years from now—I'm sorry, but the program is not going to be viable at that time". Donald Trump and economist E.J. Antoni in the Oval Office after Antoni's nomination to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Donald Trump and economist E.J. Antoni in the Oval Office after Antoni's nomination to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The White House Even Small Data Tweaks Could Mean Billions in Cuts In an interview with Fox News Digital earlier this week, Antoni said that, if confirmed, the BLS should consider pausing the monthly jobs report because of flaws in current data collection. His proposal, along with his views on Social Security, has raised concerns about the politicization of the bureau's key statistics particularly after the president fired the previous BLS chief after a soft jobs report earlier this month. Economists consulted by Newsweek warn that underreporting inflation data—even marginally—could quietly erode retirees' purchasing power over time. "If inflation is understated, then beneficiaries will have less ability to afford the goods and services they need," said Todd Belt, professor of political management at George Washington University. Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, quantified the long-term impact. "If you reduced the measured rate of inflation by 0.2–0.3 percentage points annually, then someone would be getting about 2.5 percent less in benefits after 10 years, 5 percent after 20 years and 7.5 percent after 30 years," he said. This concern extends beyond benefits. Baker noted that while a move to a lower-measuring index like the alternative known as "chained CPI" would technically require an act of Congress, "it seems the law doesn't really matter anymore." Cartons of eggs are seen for sale in a Kroger grocery store on August 15, 2022 in Houston, Texas. Egg prices steadily climb in the U.S. as inflation continues impacting grocery stores nationwide. Cartons of eggs are seen for sale in a Kroger grocery store on August 15, 2022 in Houston, Texas. Egg prices steadily climb in the U.S. as inflation continues impacting grocery stores nationwide. Brandon Bell/Getty Brian Albrecht, chief economist at the International Center for Law and Economics, added that even small distortions could be difficult to undo. "If inflation were truly 10 percent in a given year but reported as 0 percent, your check the following year would not rise at all," he said. "Even small manipulations of the data can have long-term effects that are very difficult to correct." But manipulating inflation data would not be an easy task. Albrecht pushed back on assumptions that CPI data can be easily gamed. "People dig into those numbers item by item. If you claimed everything in the basket went up 2 percent but reported CPI as 1 percent, it wouldn't add up. That scrutiny makes manipulation harder to hide." "It's just very hard to do," added Andrew Biggs, a former principal deputy commissioner at the Social Security Administration (SSA), about the prospect of manipulating inflation statistics. While the BLS could, in theory, change the methodology or sampling of the CPI-W, a subset of CPI specific to urban areas, Biggs emphasized that "outright rigging is technically demanding, especially for a political appointee working with career employees." Erica Groshen, who served as BLS commissioner under President Obama, added that such changes would require public transparency. "According to OMB Statistical Policy Directive 3, any such major changes need to be announced in advance in the Federal Register," she said. Still, the stakes are high. Groshen noted that even a 0.01 percentage point understatement of the inflation rate would reduce payments to all Social Security beneficiaries—seniors and disabled—by about $1 billion annually. Whether such changes amount to a "stealth benefit cut," she said, "depends on how it was communicated." Trust in CPI Could Erode Public and Market Confidence The CPI-W, a legacy index the measures inflation for "urban wage owners" dating back to 1972, is used only by the Social Security Administration; other agencies, including the Congressional Budget Office and the Federal Reserve, rely on the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, which tends to show lower inflation. "The Social Security Commissioner is required to select a measure of inflation, but not necessarily the CPI-W," Biggs, the former principal deputy commissioner at the SSA, said. A screen shows stock prices on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, in New York. A screen shows stock prices on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, in New York. Yuki Iwamura/AP That distinction underscores the political and policy pressure surrounding Antoni's nomination. Critics argue that a shift in the CPI-W's methodology—if perceived as biased—could spark a crisis of credibility. "Reports like the jobs report and CPI aren't just for PR purposes—Wall Street and many markets depend on them," said Anna Tavis, academic director of the Human Capital Management Department at NYU's School of Professional Studies. She also warned that undermining the credibility of official data could drive companies toward costly private analytics. "Those alternatives won't be free." The private sector isn't the only area that could be rattled. Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase, told Reuters that suspicions about manipulated CPI figures could distort the $2.1 trillion Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) market, which exists to protect investors from inflation. "There's real money on the line here," he said. The concerns are not just technical—they're about trust. "You have an economy operating in a different reality than the reported numbers," said Belt, the GWU professor. "That creates uncertainty, which is the enemy of good business behavior."
NBC News
7 hours ago
- NBC News
Trump's unusual approach to business and mediation ordered in Ohio State lawsuits: Morning Rundown
Trump takes an unprecedented approach to corporate affairs. Arab states stay quiet while other nations around the world decry the conditions in Gaza. And a woman's viral saga about falling in love with her psychiatrist spurs an existential question about AI chatbots. Here's what to know today. As the CEO in chief, Trump gets what he wants from companies Donald Trump has controlled his own businesses for decades. Now, as president, he's taking an increasingly active role in individual corporations' affairs — and several of them are meeting his demands. This represents a break with past administrations that may have been unwilling or unable, politically, to bring similar pressure to bear on businesses. Even some of Trump's opponents see the appeal of his efforts. In the past few months, Coca-Cola said it would produce soda with cane sugar in the U.S. Two major semiconductor makers agreed to give the government a cut of their sales to China. And Paramount paid millions to settle allegations Trump levied against CBS' '60 Minutes,' days before the administration approved the media conglomerate's merger with Skydance Media. This is Morning Rundown, a weekday newsletter to start your day. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. Trump also hasn't shied away from making explicit warnings. In the past week alone, he called for Lip-Bu Tan, the CEO of chipmaker Intel, to step down (though reversed course days later after a White House visit) and said Goldman Sachs should fire its chief economist because of the company's bearishness on his tariffs. 'It's so much different than the first time,' said a Republican lobbyist whose firm represents several Fortune 500 companies, of how Trump's actions differ from his first term. 'He's just acting like a businessman.' A progressive strategist who said he 'disagrees with the guy on almost every issue' concedes that Democrats could take a page out of Trump's strategy and 'adapt to the changing presidency' to take on corporations. The fear of reprisals has firms making strategic decisions to forgo any kind of legal challenge to his methods. Over the longer term, Ryan Bourne, a chair at the libertarian think tank the Cato Institute, predicts Trump's antics could give way to a less efficient economy. 'Where it can lead is businesses, rather than focusing on creating value, now seek to play footsie with politicians more and more,' Bourne said. Read the full story here. More politics news: Trump announced this year's host of the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony: himself. But, he insisted, 'I didn't want to do it. OK?' As Trump's directive to crack down on Washington, D.C., crime moves forward, a new law enforcement checkpoint goes up in a bustling neighborhood. Trump does not intend to discuss any possible divisions of land during his meeting tomorrow with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he told European leaders on a call yesterday. A new ICE detention facility set to open in Texas offers a preview of the problems that may arise as the Trump administration ramps up mass deportations. E.J. Antoni, Trump's pick to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was a 'bystander' at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, social media footage shows. The dozens of Democratic legislators who fled Texas amid a redistricting fight are charting a plan for what comes next as the state's first special legislative session winds down. Why Arab rulers aren't more vocal about Gaza With deaths from starvation and Israeli bombardment mounting in Gaza, countries around the world have become more vocal in criticizing Israel for its conduct and pledging to recognize a Palestinian state. But Arab states have notably been much less vocal, leaving Palestinians, their supporters and some analysts angry. 'The Arabs are napping,' said Fawaz Gerges, a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics, adding that leaders 'have buried their heads in the sand.' There have been small signs of support. For example, Arab states have participated in airdrops of aid and food convoys into Gaza, but Palestinians say it's nowhere near enough to ward off a looming famine; and Egypt and Qatar have mediated talks between Israel, Hamas and the U.S., but they have not led to an end to the conflict. Experts say Gulf Arab states' ties with Israel have more to do with politics than public attitudes. Several states host U.S. military bases that analysts say help shield them from regional rival Iran. And access to Israel's tech sector has been a draw for some states. Meanwhile, the U.S. and Israel have floated plans for Arab countries to accept Gaza refugees. But fearing renewed Palestinian militancy and accusations of aiding ethnic cleansing, these Arab nations have rejected the idea. Read the full story here. Mediation ordered for Ohio State over sex abuse lawsuits Ohio State University has been ordered to resolve via mediation the remaining lawsuits filed by former students who claim that Dr. Richard Strauss molested them, mostly under the guise of giving physicals, while he was a school employee from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s. The university still faces five active lawsuits from 236 men alleging the school failed to protect them. U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson issued the mediation order on Monday and referred the cases to Layn Phillips, who mediated the lawsuits filed against Michigan State by some 200 women athletes who were sexually abused by sports doctor Larry Nassar. An independent investigation in 2019 concluded that Strauss sexually abused at least 177 male athletes and students, and that coaches and administrators knew about it for two decades but failed to stop him. The university said it has paid out $60 million in settlement money already. Read the full story here. Read All About It Taylor Swift teared up during a podcast interview with her boyfriend (and his brother), chatting about her upcoming album, the start of their relationship, getting the master recordings for her music and more. A company that proposed a $30 billion data center on land owned by the widow of NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt in rural North Carolina will not move forward with the project after intense backlash. ICE allegedly sent three children, including a boy with Stage 4 cancer, to Honduras with their deported mothers despite the moms' claims they wanted to stay in the U.S., according to a lawsuit. A man accused of faking his own death and fleeing the U.S. to avoid sexual assault and fraud allegations has been convicted of rape in Utah. A woman searched an Arkansas state park for a diamond for her engagement ring. On her very last day, she hit the jackpot. As AI chatbots become a regular tool in people's lives, recent incidents have put a renewed spotlight on how the people-pleasing nature of these bots can influence users' sense of reality. For Kendra Hilty, a TikTok user whose saga about falling in love with her psychiatrist has gone viral, her chatbots are like confidants. But 'I do my best to keep them in check,' she told me in an email this week. Still, stories such as Hilty's are sparking widespread discourse about the use of AI chatbots for validation, which is why I explored mental health experts' rising concerns about AI-fueled delusions, as well as how tech companies have struggled to combat the issue. — Angela Yang, culture & trends reporter NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified Arch pain, shin splints and other common issues while running can be alleviated with insole or shoe insert. Here's what podiatrists recommend. And don't let zits bum you out. The NBC Select team spoke to dermatologists about the best way to get rid of butt acne. here.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Social Security's 2026 COLA Forecast Was Just Updated. Here's the Latest.
Key Points Social Security benefits are eligible for a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) each year. Based on recent inflation data, 2026's COLA estimate just increased to 2.7%. Though that would be an improvement from 2025's COLA, it's not set in stone. The $23,760 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook › It's not an easy thing to get by in retirement on Social Security alone (or mostly on those benefits). But for many seniors, that's their reality. People who get most or all of their income from Social Security depend heavily on the program's annual cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs, to stay afloat financially and keep up with their expenses as living costs rise. And at this stage of the year, a lot of Social Security recipients are eager to know what 2026's COLA will look like. Unfortunately, it's a bit premature to have an answer. Social Security COLAs are based on third quarter data from the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). So until there's a complete set of data for July, August, and September, the Social Security Administration cannot make its next COLA official. Still, recent inflation data gives us a clue as to what COLA seniors may be in line for in 2026. And it's actually good news compared to previous estimates. Social Security's 2026 COLA projection just went up Many seniors are hoping that 2026's Social Security COLA will be better than the 2.5% raise they got this past January. In that regard, there's an update retirees are apt to like. The Senior Citizens League, an advocacy group, releases data on Social Security COLAs based on recent inflation readings. In mid-August, it upped its 2026 COLA projection to 2.7%, which would be a notch higher than seniors' 2025 raise. It's also worth noting that the Senior Citizens League has steadily raised its 2026 COLA forecast since March. That month, the group predicted a 2.2% raise for 2026. The month after, that projection rose to 2.3%, and it's been climbing since. In fact, just a month ago, seniors on Social Security were told to expect a 2.6% raise in 2026. If this trend continues, Social Security recipients could be in line for a COLA next year that's pretty close to 3%. A modest COLA may be ideal If you're on Social Security, you may be hoping for the largest COLA possible in 2026. But you should know that a modest COLA, as opposed to a huge one, may be pretty optimal. A modest COLA in the upper 2% range is an indication that inflation is elevated, but not necessarily to an extreme extent. If seniors end up with a 2.7% COLA in 2026, it will mean two things -- that inflation didn't jump so much during the latter part of 2025, and that 2025's COLA of 2.5% held up pretty nicely. A lot of people are worried about an uptick in inflation in the coming months due to tariffs. So while those could push inflation and next year's COLA higher, it's better off for consumers of all ages if they don't. An official COLA announcement is set to come out in October, so that's when you'll really want to be on the lookout for news. Until then, you can keep tabs on inflation to get a sense of what your benefits might look like in the new year. The $23,760 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. One easy trick could pay you as much as $23,760 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Join Stock Advisor to learn more about these Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Social Security's 2026 COLA Forecast Was Just Updated. Here's the Latest. was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
