The audit discovered that 12 corporations were in charge of more than two thirds of the branded pollution that was gathered throughout the year.
According to an annual waste audit, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and PepsiCo are the biggest packaging polluters in the UK.
The campaign group Surfers Against Sewage examined more than 30,700 distinct polluting materials gathered by more than 4,000 citizen scientists over a 12-month period up to June 5 2023 along city streets, canal walks, bridleways, and coasts for its annual audit, which was released on Friday.
The audit revealed that 12 businesses are in charge of more than two thirds (70%) of the branded pollution that was gathered throughout the year.
For the fourth year in a row, Coca-Cola was determined to be the UK’s greatest polluter, accounting for nearly one fifth (17%) of all branded pollution logged by citizen scientists.
Despite the company’s efforts to prevent plastic pollution, including the installation of connected caps across the board beginning in May 2022, it still happens.
Following PepsiCo, which placed third this year, McDonald’s came in second with 11% of rescued polluting goods attributable to the brand.
Together, the top three accounted for 37% of all branded pollution gathered during the audit, a decrease of just 2% from the prior year’s data.
Tesco, Haribo, Nestle, Heineken, Mars, Carlsberg, and Red Bull were some of the other major polluters.
The results, according to Surfers Against Sewage campaign manager Izzy Ross, are “shocking, but sadly not surprising.”
“Year after year, we see the same offenders responsible for disgusting levels of plastic pollution on our beaches, in our cities, and in our countryside,” she said.The Dirty Dozen of plastic-polluting businesses must improve.
They need to embrace more circular business models and be motivated to do so in order to reduce their use of plastic and (in turn) their carbon impact.
In other places, the fishing sector has emerged as a major contributor to plastic garbage this year, with nets, lines, and ropes comprising 16% of items recovered on beaches and 11% of all objects.
With 131 items reported by collectors, a sizable number of vape and e-cigarette products were also discovered for the first time this year.
Surfers Against Sewage is urging businesses to implement circular business models and reduce packaging in order to be accountable for the entire lifecycle of their products.
The organization is pleading with the government to create a “all-in” deposit return scheme (DRS) for drink containers of all sizes and materials, including glass, as opposed to just small containers labeled as “on-the-go”.
The UK government first announced plans to adopt a DRS in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, but has now postponed implementation until 2025, announcing that the program will not include glass.
“Unfortunately, the Government’s intentions to introduce a DRS continue to languish. By doing so, it is committing our ocean, beaches, and rivers to receive an additional 8 billion pieces of plastic each year, slowly starving these delicate ecosystems to death.
It is evident that there is a global packaging waste problem, and we have a duty to contribute to its solution, according to a Coca-Cola representative.
“At Coca-Cola, we’re collaborating with our partners to encourage more recycling while also proactively backing a number of initiatives aimed at eradicating trash.
In the UK, all bottles are presently recyclable, and all of our smaller packs—with the exception of caps and labels—are made entirely of recycled plastic.
A PepsiCo UK representative stated, “We acknowledge that litter on our beaches is a serious problem, and we believe there is a vital part we must play to assist address this matter.
We are making progress toward our target of removing virgin fossil-based plastics from all of our crisp and snack bags in Europe by 2030, as stated in our strategic transformation plan, PepsiCo Positive. We are totally dedicated to lowering the amount of plastic we use across our entire portfolio.
“This is another important piece of study on the global problem of plastic litter, and, while the findings are not a surprise to us, they are not at all pleasant to see, and we are aware of the scale,” a Nestle representative said.
We produce some of the most renowned food and beverage brands in the world, and for reasons of safety, cost, and freshness, many of them come in plastic packaging. The fact that such packaging ends up as litter in the environment, endangers species, and jeopardizes ecosystems and the food chain is, nevertheless, wholly unacceptable.
“In the UK and Ireland, we continue to work toward having all of our packaging be recyclable or reusable, and we continue to make sure that as much of our packing is designed for recycling as is feasible by the year 2025.”
“We know that we are able to survive if our people, the planet, and the communities around us thrive,” a Heineken UK spokeswoman stated.
“With our Brew a Better World sustainability initiative, we have set ourselves a number of challenging objectives, one of which is to achieve net zero carbon emissions across our whole value chain, from barley to bar, by the year 2040.
At the same time, we have taken some significant actions to solve this problem because we are aware of the immediate effects of trash on the ecosystem.
“As a company, we strive to make improvements to our packaging as a way to reduce plastic waste and have already implemented a number of moves in this area,” a McDonald’s representative said.