"This is just about encouraging more people to recycle, because there are still significant opportunities for us to improve in this regard as a country," she says.
Asked why Coca-Cola only recycles products under the 600ml mark, Evans said the intention is to spread this to all its products by the end of 2019.
This is part of Coca-Cola's global sustainability goal, which aims to ensure that at least 50 per cent of all Coca-Cola bottling is made from recycled material by 2030.
The move comes at a time of international movement, with the younger generation, in particular, taking a stance against businesses harming the environment.
It also comes amid a trend of start-up businesses growing quickly on foundations built on sustainability.
Coke can't erase its legacy or the fact that it continues to rely heavily on plastic, so any marketing effort that pushes sustainability will always put the brand at risk of being perceived as greenwashing.
"We're investing huge amount in sustainability," Evans says.
"Getting all those products into recycled plastic is a huge commitment, we have existing relationships with the likes of Sea Cleaners out there, and we're also investing a lot in getting consumers to recycle. This is definitely not greenwashing."
Marketing veteran Ben Goodale, who has previously been critical of greenwashing in local marketing, told the Herald that Coca-Cola's ubiquity gives it a major challenge when it comes to any narrative associated with an environmental message.
"Their branding is so strong that wherever you see litter or a landfill you're likely to see Coca Cola, and consumers are challenging them on packaging," Goodale said.
"Let's face it, if brands like Coke don't respond to global concerns around plastic, their business will decline pretty rapidly as consumers move to greener alternatives. It's also ironic that most of their marketing imagery is in glass bottles, yet it's so hard to get in that format."
That said, Goodale doesn't see Coca-Cola's efforts as greenwashing given the company is "changing bottling and materials" and making a commitment to continue improving.
But this comes with a warning.
"They could move faster," says Goodale.
"They claim to be 10 years away from being 'bottle neutral' worldwide, and that's a lot of bottles in landfill between now and then. And with 170,000 of New Zealand's youth marching last Friday about climate change and the environment, Coke run a fine line of not keeping up with a large part of their market who could move swiftly to even greener options.
"A lot of brands should be thinking very hard about this at the moment. Wasteful packaging is quickly becoming toxic in the eyes of the consumer."
