Bottled water, bottled soda, practical bottles in different sizes. PET bottles have replaced glass ones, and they also compete with cans. It is estimated that only 10 % of plastic beverage bottles are recycled. The annual global audit revealed the three TOP plastic polluters. They are Coca-Cola, Nestlé and PepsiCo.
In the 1980s and 1990s, a big boom came when world soda chains came with unbreakable plastic bottles. Coca-Cola was the first company to fill PET bottles in 1978.
The oceans become a landfill for discarded bottles from these gigantic packaged beverage chains.
Global Audit
An audit conducted by Break Free From Plastic found that Coca-Cola, Nestlé and PepsiCo were the first three biggest sources of plastic waste worldwide. Their names include a total of 43% of the plastics collected during the audit.
Cleaning took place in 50 countries on 6 continents and Break Free From Plastic performed 484 cleanups.
Responses of Audited Companies
Greenpeace South East Asia Campaign Coordinator Abigal Aguilar said of the audit: “Unfortunately, recent Coca-Cola, Nestlé and PepsiCo crisis management commitments continue to rely on fake solutions such as paper or bioplastics plastic replacement and more rely on broken global recycling system. These strategies largely protect the outdated business model that caused plastic pollution and do nothing to prevent these brands from becoming the best polluters again in the future. “
The giants of the food chain argue that the “throwaway culture mindset” is the basis of the business model of many companies. However, everyone, Coca-Cola, Nestlé and PepsiCo are working on strategies to reduce plastics in their bottles. It’s time to hurry.
9 to 10 % of the plastics produced since 1950 have been recycled. The rest ends up in landfills, incinerators, and unfortunately in the oceans, where they disintegrate into micro-plastics that threaten the whole food chain globally.
The rest of the top 10 polluters are Mondelēz International, Unilever, Mars, P&G, Colgate-Palmolive, Phillip Morris and Perfetti Van Melle.
Source and credit: Bo Eide, https://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/coca-cola-nestle-pepsi-top-plastic-polluters/, flickr.com
