Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé are biggest plastic waste polluters – global study

Fifty-six companies led by Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestlé are responsible for more than half of the world’s plastic pollution, a new research published this week shows.

The research, which analyzed more than 1,870,000 plastic waste collected across 84 countries between 2018 and 2022, found that the bulk of the items collected was single-use packaging for food, beverage, and tobacco products made by the world’s most popular brands.

Less than half of the plastic litter bore identifiable branding linking it to the producing company; the remainder couldn’t be attributed. Just less than 60 multinational companies in the fast-moving consumer goods sector were responsible for the branded plastic, with six of them accounting for a quarter of it.

The research identified Coca-Cola as the worst offender, responsible for 11% of the world’s branded plastic pollution. PepsiCo (5%), Nestlé (3%), Danone (3%), and Altria (Philip Morris) (2%) followed closely behind. These top five brands collectively account for a troubling 24% of all the branded plastic waste documented in the study.

“Production really is pollution,” says one of the study’s authors, Lisa Erdle, director of science at the non-profit, The 5 Gyres Institute.

“Phasing out single-use and short-lived plastic products by the largest polluters would greatly reduce global plastic pollution,” the researchers said.

Why this matters:

The world generates a staggering 400 million tons of plastic waste annually, most of which gets dumped in landfills and does not break down easily in these environments.

Each day, an alarming amount of plastic waste, the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full, ends up in the oceans, rivers, and lakes. This plastic breaks down into tiny particles that experts say make their way into human bodies, raising serious concerns about potential health risks like cancer.

Nigeria generates up to 32 million tonnes of solid waste per year, the government says. Of that number, an estimated 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated annually.

What the companies said

Coca-Cola Company said its World Without Waste strategy aims to make all of its packaging recyclable globally by 2025. The company also aims to use at least 50% recycled material in its packaging by 2030.

“We know more must be done and we can’t achieve our goals alone,” the company told Axios.

Nestlé said told the UK Guardian it has reduced its virgin plastic usage by 14.9% in the last five years, and supports schemes around the world to develop waste collection and recycling schemes.

“Since launching our voluntary commitments to address plastic waste five years ago, we have significantly outperformed the market at large in reducing virgin plastic and increasing recyclability, according to the most recent report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation,” it said.