Giant brands among top global plastic polluters: Report

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) – Some major brands around the world have been revealed to be the top plastic polluters in a latest report on the topic.

The global environmentalist movement Break Free From Plastic on Wednesday revealed a report -- titled Brand Audit Report 2019 on the top plastic polluters globally.

According to the report, the U.S.-based beverage brand Coca-Cola, for the second year in a row, came in as the top global polluter in 2019.

“A total of 11,732 Coca-Cola branded plastics were recorded in 37 countries across four continents, more than the next three top global polluters combined,” the report said.

Besides Coca-Cola, Nestle, PepsiCo, Mondelez International, Unilever, Mars, P&G, Colgate-Palmolive, Phillip Morris, and Perfetti Van Mille were named top 10 polluting brands.

The report revealed that although the Global South is often blamed for plastic pollution, top companies that are responsible for the plastic pollution are based in Europe and the U.S., which produce huge amount of single-use plastics and spread them across the world.

Also addressing the pollution caused by single-use plastics, the report urged for an end to consume single-use plastics.

“It will be impossible for the world to reduce plastic pollution without these brands making major changes to how they deliver their products.”

- Is recycling solution?

On the commitments of top global plastic polluters to produce 100% recyclable plastic products, the report claimed that the recycling was not the permanent solution.

"A plastic bottle can only be recycled a few times and in reality most recycled plastic is made into clothing, construction materials or other products that will not get recycled again," the report elaborated on the issue.

"Of the total amount of plastics produced since the 1950’s, only 9% has actually been recycled globally, with the rest being burned, landfilled or left polluting our environment," it said.

The movement also highlighted that plastics can have adverse effects on human health and environment in all stage of their production, exemplifying plastic consumption’s ill effect on climate change as they are made of fossil fuels.

The movement called on the companies responsible for the pollution to reform their product delivery systems in order to avoid creating more plastic pollution.

The report was based on the the number of countries where these companies’ brands were found to be polluting the environment, while also taking into account the number of plastics collected per brand/manufacturer, according to the movement.

Founded in September 2016 as a global movement, Break Free From Plastic is seeking a future free from plastic pollution.