Coca-Cola, biggest plastic polluter in the world, according to a survey

The NGO Break Free From Plastic urges governments to act to force manufacturers to reduce the use of plastic, a problematic material mainly made from fossil fuels such as petroleum.

AP - Darko Vojinovic

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

While the high mass dedicated to climate, COP26, opens in a few days, Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Unilever find themselves on an unrewarding podium: that of the biggest plastic polluters.

A ranking established by the NGO Break Free From Plastic after a field survey carried out in several countries around the world. 

Advertising

Read more

Bottles of soda, jars of yogurt and other plastic waste washed up on beaches, in forests, or in mangroves.

This is what an army of several thousand volunteers mobilized by the NGO Break Free From Plastic (“freeing oneself from plastic”) has collected in around forty countries.

🚨JUST IN: @cocacola, @PepsiCo, @Unilever, @Nestle, & @ProcterGamble are the Top 5 Corporate Plastic Polluters of 2021! 🚨

It's the 4th time they've been on the top 10 list.

We demand that they #breakfreefromplastic!

Visit https://t.co/UTAJwIAiks # BrandAudit2021 pic.twitter.com/N3zHRj9YWm

- breakfreefromplastic (@brkfreeplastic) October 25, 2021

Unilever, sponsor of COP26, in the top 5

A third of this rubbish, collected this year, could have been linked to a manufacturer, thus giving rise to an inglorious record.

In the lead, by far, the American firm

, as in the three previous editions, followed by Pepsi, then Unilever, which is one of the main sponsors of the COP26, points out the NGO.

►Also listen: Can we do without plastic?

Also in the top 10 are Nestlé and the French company Danone.

With this record, the NGO intends to remind these firms of their responsibilities.

Coca-cola, for example, has committed to collecting a used bottle for each bottle sold, but by 2030.

And above all, the association urges governments to act to force manufacturers to reduce the use of plastic, a problematic material.

Today, 99% of plastic is indeed made from fossil fuels such as petroleum;

given the quantities produced, it contributes significantly to global warming, insists the NGO.

Newsletter

Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

• Pollution

• Environment

• Companies

• COP26