Plastic Waste Audit Names Coca-Cola as the ‘Most Polluting Brand’

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The recent annual audit carried out by Break Free From Plastic- the global movement working to stop plastic pollution for good- has listed the top plastic polluting brands of the world. The audit concluded that Coca-Cola was the largest cause of plastic pollution, followed by Nestle and PepsiCo in the second and third place respectively.

The conclusions are derived based on 484 cleanups conducted by the movement in 50 countries spread across six continents. A total of 72,000 volunteers were involved in the drive, which collected pieces of plastics from beaches, city streets and waterways. The volunteers collected a total of over 475,000 pieces of plastic waste. Out of this, they recorded a total of 11,732 branded Coca-Cola plastics were recorded. The second and third most polluting brands were Nestle and PepsiCo, whose collections totalled 4,846 pieces and 3,362 pieces respectively.

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The other brands to feature in the top ten are Mondelez, unilever, Mars, Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Philip Morris International and Perfetti.

According to the audit, the top polluting plastic brands in the U.S. alone were Nestle, Solo Cup Company and Starbucks.

The report highlights several strategies to tackle the growing plastic waste problem. The prominent among them is the need for educating consumers on the need for efficient recycling of single-use plastics. Alongside, there should be drastic improvements to recycling infrastructure facilities. It also urges companies to develop alternative materials for plastics in their products.