COP 27 sponsor Coca-Cola is prime plastic polluter for 5 years in a row, says report

Coca-Cola firm, one of many sponsors of the COP27 summit, has been named the worst plastic polluter for 5 years operating, as per a worldwide model audit report by ‘Break Free From Plastic’. PepsiCo and Nestlé took up the opposite two spots within the prime 3 record of worldwide plastic polluters, each for 2022 and for the previous 5 years. 

In India, apart from PepsiCo, Wai Wai noodles-maker CG Foods India Pvt Ltd and Perfetti Van Melle, the meals firm behind Mentos, Alpenliebe and the Chupa Chups lollipops, have been among the many prime plastic polluters in 2022.

While PepsiCo was discovered to be the highest polluter within the nation this 12 months, milk merchandise have been discovered to be the worst plastic offenders prior to now two years. The Karnataka Milk Federation had topped the record in 2021 whereas Tamil Nadu Co-operative Milk Producers’ Federation Ltd topped the record in 2020. In 2019, SS Food Products (which makes cooking merchandise like baking powder and ready-to-eat soups) was named the highest plastic polluter whereas Perfetti Van Melle took that spot in 2018. 

Break Free From Plastic, a coalition of round 11,000 world organisations, mentioned that it analysed the trash-collection information for the previous 5 years with the assistance of over 2 lakh volunteers in 87 locations to compile the 2022 Brand Audit report. It outlined the highest polluters as “corporations that pollute the most places around the world with the greatest amount of plastic waste.” The major standards is the width of air pollution, i.e. the variety of international locations the place the product is discovered, whereas the secondary one is the depth, i.e. the variety of branded gadgets discovered.  

Predictably, plastic packaging was mostly present in meals merchandise, adopted by family merchandise, smoking and packaging materials. Globally, the Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Unilever, Mondelēz International (which makes fashionable snacks like 5 Star, Bournvita, Cadbury, Diary Milk, and Oreos), Mars Inc., Procter & Gamble, tobacco firm Philip Morris International, French meals firm Danone, and Italian chocolate makers Ferrero Group have been featured within the prime 10 corporations which can be liable for plastic air pollution. 

The commonest varieties of plastics deemed as pollution have been these used to make containers for meals, bottles for shampoos and different private hygiene merchandise, and pipings. As per the report, Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), High-density polyethylene (HDPE) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) have been the most typical plastic varieties discovered within the final 5 years in India.

The uncooked materials for many varieties of plastics, together with PET and HDPE, is derived from fossil fuels like crude oil and pure fuel. One of the important thing speaking factors on the COP27 summit, being held in Egypt this 12 months, is options to chop down dependence on fossil fuels.

COP27 and Coca-Cola

When COP27 introduced its choice to associate with Coca-Cola in September 2022, a number of activists slammed the transfer, stating the American beverage firm’s document as a prime plastic polluter.

Greenpeace USA Oceans Campaign Director John Hocevar termed the selection as “baffling.” “Coca-Cola produces 120 billion throwaway plastic bottles a year – and 99% of plastics are made from fossil fuels, worsening both the plastic and climate crisis. They have yet to even acknowledge that this is a problem or explain how they will meet their climate goals without ending their plastic addiction. This partnership undermines the very objective of the event it seeks to sponsor,” Hocevar mentioned in a press release.

Super enjoyable to have a local weather summit in a police state sponsored by @CocaCola whereas most “civil society” delegates save their indignation for jacked up resort costs as an alternative of locked up political prisoners. #COP27 in #Egypt is shaping as much as be very cool and regular. #SaveAlaa https://t.co/28NEuyYxVD

— Naomi Klein “#COP27 Egypt Unsilenced” (@NaomiAKlein) October 1, 2022

Coca-Cola instructed that it “shares the goal of eliminating waste from the ocean”.

“Our support for Cop27 is in line with our science-based target to reduce absolute carbon emissions 25% by 2030, and our ambition for net zero carbon emissions by 2050,” it instructed The Guardian.

However, Von Hernandez, Global Coordinator of Break Free From Plastic criticised governments worldwide for not holding firms accountable for the air pollution they’re inflicting. “Instead of allowing companies like Coke to greenwash their image, governments need to compel polluters to invest in reuse and alternative product delivery systems that avoid the problem in the first place. This is one of the key systemic changes required for the world to avert the full consequences of climate change and plastic pollution,” Hernandez mentioned.

Through its report, the Break Free From Plastic group has requested polluting firms to disclose and cut back their world plastic footprint, and redesign product packaging to minimise dependence on plastics. They have additionally referred to as on world leaders to push for a legally binding Global Plastics Treaty, holding in thoughts the ineffectiveness of voluntary commitments made by firms.