Four consumer brands are responsible for half a million tonnes of plastic pollution each year in just six developing countries, according to a new report.
The report produced by international relief and development agency Tearfund examines the plastic pollution footprint of four multinational companies and calls for an urgent switch to sustainable refillable and reusable packaging.
Titled ‘The Burning Question’, as part of Tearfund’s Rubbish Campaign, the study considers the emissions released from the open burning of consumer brands Coca-Cola, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever’s plastic packaging on street corners, open dumps and in backyards in developing countries.
The report claims this burning of plastic waste, due to the lack of access to waste collections, is a major contribution to the climate emergency and to public health.
Six developing countries – Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Nigeria and the Philippines – were considered within the report. Daily, in these countries, the extent of plastic pollution the four multinational companies create are equivalent to 83 football pitches of plastic pollution, 33 attributable to Coca-Cola, 15 Nestlé, 22 PepsiCo and 11 to Unilever.
The report considers the rising greenhouse gas emissions attributable to these multinational companies; the plastic burnt creates emissions equivalent to 4.6 million tonnes of CO2 – the same as two million cars on UK roads a year.
Coca-Cola was found to be the worst polluter of the four companies investigated with 200,000 tonnes of plastic pollution – or around eight billion bottles – burnt or dumped each year in these developing countries.
Manufacturing of plastics is both energy and emissions intensive, releasing greenhouse gases (GHGs) and black carbon into the atmosphere – it is intrinsically connected to the climate crisis. Further emissions are generated by burning plastic and some evidence shows leaving plastics to break down in the environment produces methane and ethylene as well. The study finds Coca-Cola is more heavily dependent on PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) plastic, which during burning releases more black carbon than other types of plastic packaging. ■
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