Coca Cola Is The Most Polluting Brand Of Plastic Waste, For Second Year In A Row As Per Report
Coca-Colas was found for the second year in a row to be the most polluting brand in a global audit of plastic trash conducted by the Break Free From Plastic global movement. The giant soda company was responsible for more plastic litter than the next top three polluters combined. The audit was done on one day in September when participants collected plastic trash like bottles, cups etc. from different parts of the globe.
Also Read: Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé found to be worst plastic polluters worldwide
With 4,846 pieces of plastic waste collected from 31 countries during the audit, Nestle accounted for just over 1% of the total waste analyzed. This put the company in the second place spot for top polluting brands in the report.
The plastic waste collected were able to link back the plastic to over 8000 companies. Coke was responsible for 11,732 pieces of plastic litter found in 37 countries on four continents. After Coca-Cola, the next biggest contributors to the plastic pollution in the audit were Nestle, PepsiCo, Mondelez International — purveyor of snack brands like Oreo, Ritz, Nabisco, and Nutter Butter — and Unilever. More than half of the plastic had eroded to the point where it was impossible to discern who had produced it.
In third place with 3,362 pieces of plastic from 28 countries, PepsiCo accounted for approximately 0.7% of plastic waste. Other brands in the top 10 included Mondelez International, Unilever, Mars, Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Phillip Morris International and Perfetti Van Mille.
In a statement on the report, Break Free From Plastics said the companies most frequently identified in the brand audits “have offered mostly false solutions to the plastics crisis, underscoring how important it is for voices from beyond the consumer goods sector to demand accountability and call for an end to single-use plastics.”
While many companies work to make products “100% recyclable,” the report said this does not solve pollution problems and “recycling is not the magic solution it is often claimed to be.
Plastic polymer chains shorten when they are recycled, and this deteriorates quality, the report said. Plastic bottles can be recycled a few times, but there are limits — and some plastic is turned into items including clothing, construction materials or other products are often not recycled again.
