The world’s biggest plastic polluters, revealed by a study. What well-known companies are poisoning the planet

According to the results of a study published on Wednesday, 56 multinationals are responsible for more than half of the plastic pollution worldwide, and five of them are responsible for a quarter of this pollution, The Guardian reports.

The study confirms that Philip Morris International, Danone, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are the biggest culprits. The researchers concluded that for every percentage increase in plastic produced, there was an equivalent increase in plastic pollution in the environment.

An international team of volunteers collected and analyzed more than 1,870,000 pieces of plastic waste from 84 countries over five years: most of the waste collected was single-use packaging for food, drinks and tobacco. Less than half of this plastic waste had an identifiable brand that could be traced back to the company that produced the packaging; the rest could not be accounted for or accounted for.

Half of the branded plastic was the responsibility of just 56 multinational consumer goods companies, and a quarter of that amount was produced by just five companies.

Altria and Philip Morris International produced 2% of the branded plastic waste found, Danone and Nestlé 3%, PepsiCo was responsible for 5% of this and 11% of the branded plastic waste could be attributed to the Coca-Cola Company .

“The industry likes to put the onus on the individual,” says study author Marcus Eriksen, an expert on plastic pollution at The 5 Gyres Institute. “But we’d like to point out that it’s the brands, it’s their choice of packaging types and because they’ve embraced this delivery model for their throwaway products. This is what causes the greatest abundance of litter,” he added.

What the multinationals say

The Guardian contacted Philip Morris International, Danone, Nestlé, PepsiCo and the Coca-Cola Company regarding this matter.

“We care about the impact of every drink we sell and are committed to growing our business the right way”, said Coca-Cola representatives. The company has committed to making 100% of its packaging recyclable globally by 2025 and using at least 50% recycled materials in packaging by 2030.

Nestlé said it has reduced its use of plastic by 14.9% over the past five years and is supporting programs around the world to develop waste collection and recycling systems.

“Since launching our voluntary commitments to tackle plastic waste five years ago, we have significantly outperformed the overall market in reducing plastic and increasing recycling, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s latest report,” the company stated.

Nestlé also supports the creation of a legally binding global regulation on plastic pollution, which is being negotiated this week.

A UN treaty on plastic pollution is needed

Although many of these companies have taken voluntary measures to reduce their impact on plastic pollution, the experts behind the study argue that they are not working. Plastic production has doubled since the beginning of 2000, and studies show that only 9% of plastic is recycled.

When the team collected data on the annual production of plastic packaging reported by each of these multinational companies and compared it with data from more than 1,500 waste surveys, their statistical analysis showed that every 1% increase in production plastic was directly correlated with about a 1% increase in plastic pollution.

Part of the team behind the study is participating in debates this week in Ottawa for a UN treaty on plastic pollution.