There are some top spots that no one wants. Three huge corporations have just been named the top three causes of the world’s plastic pollution, and chances are, you’ve unwittingly been a part of it. If you’re eating or drinking anything made by Nestlé, Pepsi, or Coca Cola, you’re in the club no one wants to be in (I’m in the club, too). These corporations are putting tons of plastic into our environment, and we’re not sure what they’re going to do about it. The companies are accused of making “zero progress” in reducing the amount of waste their products are producing.
The un-coveted number one spot goes to Coca Cola following the annual audit of the organization called Break Free From Plastic. The plastic bottles from all three companies end up in the world’s parks, beaches, rivers, and more, and that’s in 51 out of the 55 countries that were surveyed in the audit. Coca Cola is the worst, and their trash was found in 37 out of the 51 nations. Coca Cola’s branding was found on 13,384 pollutants. Meanwhile, Nestle’s branding was found on 8,633 products and Pepsi’s branding was found on 5,155 products. It’s an ugly sight in every way imaginable.
Waste audit names Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestle as top plastic polluters https://t.co/mBQb9MjT7Z
— UPI.com (@UPI) December 7, 2020
The audit was conducted worldwide by 15,000 volunteers, and it identifies the major global brands that contribute to the most plastic pollution in the most nations. In 2020 alone, the volunteers collected 346,494 pieces of plastic, and 63% of those were marked clearly by a specific consumer brand. Emma Priestland, the campaign coordinator for Break Free From Plastic, said that the world’s top polluting companies claim that they’re working hard to help solve the problem of plastic pollution, but the fact is, they’re continuously pumping out products in single-use plastic packaging.
“The world’s top polluting corporations claim to be working hard to solve plastic pollution…In March, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé & Unilever were found to be responsible for 1/2 million tonnes of plastic pollution in six developing countries each year."https://t.co/DK2qJyNFrV
— Robert Macfarlane (@RobGMacfarlane) December 7, 2020
Priestland added that the only way to stop this problem is to phase out single-use containers and introducing reusable systems. We used to do this. Remember glass bottles that we then traded in for nickel? Why not go back to that? Watch the video on this audit below.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
