NGOs say Coke, Pepsi, and Nestle among worst plastic polluters
As the EU lurches towards a ban on plastic drinking straws, anti-pollution campaigners are advocating more far-reaching measures. In October 2018, the umbrella NGO Break Free from Plastic, consisting of about 1,300 groups, including Greenpeace, released a global audit, which identifies Coke, Pepsi, and Nestle as being among a handful of businesses that are contributing most to ocean pollution.
The audit was conducted by NGOs, whose members took it upon themselves to comb beaches and sift through nearly 200,000 pieces of plastic found there. Incidentally, it was soft drink bottles, which were most frequent found by volunteers who conducted clean-up operations from the UK to Vietnam. Of all the brands identified, the teams found that Coca-Cola was the top polluter, with Coke-branded plastic found in 40 of the 42 participating countries.
In Europe alone, Coke, Pepsi and Nestle bottles contributed nearly half of this “brand audit” of plastic.
Break Free from Plastic delivered a petition to the European Parliament, signed by 250,000 people, which seeks to curb ocean plastic pollution, prior to MEPs voting on a ban on single-use plastics.
On 24 October 2018, the European Parliament overwhelmingly voted in support of a directive, which will ban items such as plastic straws, cotton swabs, disposable plastic plates and cutlery by 2021. Also, member states will be obliged to collect 90 percent of single-use plastic drinks bottles by 2025, for example through deposit refund schemes.
Nonetheless, EU member states still have to back the proposed directive before it becomes law, but if all goes well, there could be a law by the end of the year, reports The UK’s Guardian newspaper.
