Study confirms Altria, Philip Morris International, Danone, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are worst offenders

Fewer than 60 multinationals are responsible for more than half of the world’s plastic pollution, with six responsible for a quarter of that, based on the findings of a piece of research published on Wednesday.

The researchers concluded that for every percentage increase in plastic produced, there was an equivalent increase in plastic pollution in the environment.

“Production really is pollution,” says one of the study’s authors, Lisa Erdle, director of science at the non-profit The 5 Gyres Institute.

An international team of volunteers collected and surveyed more than 1,870,000 items of plastic waste across 84 countries over five years: the bulk of the rubbish collected was single-use packaging for food, beverage, and tobacco products.

  • Flying Squid
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    1714 days ago

    Aluminum is theoretically recyclable an unlimited number of times, so the cans are much less of an issue.

    • guyrocket
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      fedilink
      814 days ago

      My point is aluminum and glass are much better than plastic.

      • @NarrativeBear
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        1714 days ago

        I think one or the draw backs with aluminium cans though is they still have that plastic lining inside?

        Coke cans and most pop for example still have plastic inside. Canada even recently made a paper wine bottle, but believe it or not, plastic bag inside a paper bottle.