coca-cola, PepsiCo and nestlé named top plastic polluters for third consecutive year

the coca-cola company, PepsiCo and nestlé have been ranked as the world’s top plastic polluters for the 3rd consecutive year according to the report ‘branded vol III: demanding corporate accountability for plastic pollution’ published by break free from plastic. the organization conducted a brand audit — an annual citizen action initiative that involves counting and documenting the brands on plastic waste found in communities across the globe — and collected 346,494 pieces of plastic from 55 countries. the audit this year also acknowledged the essential work of informal waste pickers, predominantly in the global south, and the impact that low value, single-use plastic has on their livelihoods.

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, global corporate campaigns coordinator of break free from plastic. ‘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.’