(Reuters) -Sustainability-focused investment firm Engine No. 1 has held talks with Coca-Cola Co about steps the soda giant could take to ramp up recycling of its cans and bottles, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
The activist investor, which won an against-the-odds board challenge against Exxon Mobil Corp last year, has a passive stake in Coca-Cola through its Transform 500 exchange-traded fund. It also holds investments in PepsiCo Inc and Procter & Gamble Co.
Charlie Penner, the former Engine No. 1 partner responsible for getting three seats at Exxon, brought the Coca-Cola idea to Engine No. 1 from Jana Partners where he had been researching it, another source told Reuters.
Coca-Cola aims to have 100% of its packaging recyclable globally by 2025 and use at least 50% recycled material in its packaging by 2030, according to its sustainability goals.
Engine No. 1 has suggested a partnership between Coca-Cola and garbage collection and recycling company Republic Services Inc, in which Engine No. 1 holds a stake, newly launched global news platform Semafor reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Coca-Cola and Republic did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
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(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru and Svea Herbst-Bayliss in New York; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Shailesh Kuber)