For six years, the Break Free From Plastic movement has carried out an annual audit of plastic pollution brands. The initiative is participatory. Waste is collected, gathered and counted to identify the responsible brands. In 2023, no less than 537,719 pieces of plastic waste have been analyzed.
Plastic bottles are winning the race against plastic pollution
As a result, The Coca-Cola Company — sponsor of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games — is the champion that pollutes the most countries with plastic waste. And it’s not entirely a surprise, since the brand has held this position as the world’s biggest plastic polluter for six years now. The sad news is that in 2023, Coca-Cola plastic waste was more numerous than ever. And found in 40 countries out of 41 participants. Note, however, that a greater number of PepsiCo waste was collected, but in “only” 30 countries.
Lots of plastic also in… cigarette butts
In France too, plastic bottles are among the plastic waste most found on the ground. Water bottles from the Alma Group (Saint-Yorre, Vichy Célestins, Cristalline, Courmayeur, etc.), in first place, – the most purchased in our country – with nearly 850 pieces of waste out of the approximately 5,800 counted. The Coca-Cola Company remains on the bottle podium, in 3rd position, and the top 10 also includes Suntory (Oasis, Orangina, Schweppes), PepsiCo and Danone (Évian, Volvic, Badoit).
In 2nd position, it is not the plastic packaging from Kinder or Haribo, but rather, the cigarette butts from Altria/Philip Morris International (Marlboro, Philip Morris, Chesterfield). They account for 451 waste. And No Plastic In My Sea, one of the four associations which took part in the audit in our country, specifies that the brand of many of the cigarette butts collected could not be identified. Which, undoubtedly, leads to underestimated figures.
