For the third consecutive year, an audit by environmental initiative Break Free From Plastic has found The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo and Nestlé to be the companies creating the most plastic pollution.
The annual survey saw 15,000 volunteers in 55 countries collect 346,494 pieces of plastic from their surrounding environment.
The brand most heavily responsible for this pollution was Coca-Cola, totalling 13,834 pieces across 51 countries, which is more than Pepsi and Nestlé combined.
Meanwhile, in the top five for the second year in a row are Unilever and Mondel?z International, which between them own household names like Dove, Magnum, Cadbury and Oreo.
Companies are failing to make meaningful changes
An accompanying report, authored by activists from Break Free From Plastic and Greenpeace among others, argued that the audit data shows how large multinationals are hiding behind "clever marketing tactics and lofty 'sustainability' goals" while failing to make the meaningful changes to back them up. "The world's top polluting corporations claim to be working hard to solve plastic pollution, but instead they are continuing to pump out harmful single-use plastic packaging," said Emma Priestland, Break Free From Plastic's global corporate campaigns coordinator.
"We need to stop plastic production, phase out single-use and implement robust, standardised reuse systems. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé should be leading the way in finding real solutions.&q...