The Coca-Cola Company has insisted it “fully supports” recycling - despite winning a court bid that will make it exempt from paying a recycling container tax in Australia.

The Federal Court in Sydney this week ruled in favour of Coca-Cola Amatil after it argued that the Northern Territory government’s cash-for-containers recycling scheme, introduced in January 2012, was costly and ineffective.

The ruling, which means the container tax will not apply to Coca-Cola products sold in the jurisdiction, prompted an angry backlash from consumers, who threatened to boycott the company.

Coca-Cola Australia’s Facebook page attracted scores of enraged posts including “corporate scum for dismantling container deposit recycling in the NT” and “am pretty upset by this attitude and as a big fan of Coke will really stop myself from buying your products in protest, and tell all my friends about this court case.”

Twitter users also urged people to boycott the company, under the hashtag #Cokefail. Posts included “Boycott @CocaCola until they learn to become environmentally responsible” and “Stop @CocaCola trashing Australia”.

Coca-Cola said it was not anti-recycling and supported a partnership approach that addressed all litter and would not increase drink prices.

“The Coca-Cola system fully supports recycling,” its official statement read. “We want everyone to recycle more, and waste less. We believe curbside collection is more efficient, effective and costs less than mandatory deposit laws.”

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