Coca-Cola tops list of 10 corporate plastic polluters of 2020

For the third year in a row, Coca-Cola is the number one top global polluter with plastic waste among the most famous brands.

The Break Free From Plastic movement has revealed the Top 10 Corporate Plastic Polluters of 2020 in its third report “Branded Volume III: Demanding Corporate Accountability for Plastic Pollution”.

According to the document, Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Unilever, Mondelez International, Mars, Inc., Procter & Gamble, Philip Morris International, Colgate-Palmolive, and Perfetti Van Melle were the biggest polluters.

The movement is calling on companies to urgently reduce the amount of single-use plastic

The movement tracks companies whose brands were recorded polluting the most places around the world with the greatest amount of plastic waste.

The Break Free From Plastic is calling on them to urgently reduce the amount of single-use plastic they use.

Polluters must reinvent their product delivery systems to move beyond single-use plastic altogether

“The top polluters must reveal how much single-use plastic they use, then set clear, measurable targets for reducing the quantity of single-use plastic items they produce. Finally, they must reinvent their product delivery systems to move beyond single-use plastic altogether,” according to the report.

In 2020, Break Free From Plastic organized 14,734 volunteers in 55 countries for 575 brand audits. They collected 346,494 pieces of plastic waste, 63% of which was marked with a clear consumer brand. Participants catalogued over 5,000 brands in this year’s global audit.

Polluters reduced their use of virgin plastic by only 0.1% from 2018 to 2019

The list remains remarkably consistent with previous brand audit reports, demonstrating that the same corporations are continuing to pollute the most places with most single-use plastic.

Coca-Cola, Nestlé, and PepsiCo have remained in the top three since the first global brand audit in 2018, the report reads.

Seven of the top polluters – the Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Unilever, Mondelez International, Mars, Inc., and Colgate-Palmolive – have joined the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, but this is not enough, the report underlines.

According to a recent Ellen MacArthur report, the signatories to the New Plastic Economy Global Commitment have only reduced their use of virgin plastic by only 0.1% from 2018 to 2019.