A dozen companies, including The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), McDonald's Corp (NYSE:MCD) and Tesco PLC (LSE:LON:TSCO) are responsible for 70% of branded packaging pollution in the UK, a survey has revealed.
The top three polluters, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:PEP) and McDonald's are responsible for 38% of all branded pollution, according to a report by the charity Surfers Against Sewage.
The charity accused the companies of “greenwashing” and urged the government to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for drinks containers of all sizes, where the deposit is repaid to the consumer upon return of the packaging.
Over 3,700 volunteers picked litter across 13,000 miles of UK coastline, rivers, streets and countryside to produce data for the annual survey.
In addition to the top three offenders, the 12 worst polluters, dubbed the “Dirty Dozen” in the report, included Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD), Mondelez (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:MDLZ) International, Nestlé, Tesco, Red Bull GmbH, Suntory, Carlsberg (CSE:CARLa) Group, Heineken Holding and Mars.
“Year after year, our Citizen Science Brand Audit reveals the same huge companies are responsible for the packaging pollution choking our environment. Despite public sustainability commitments, these dirty brands are failing to take meaningful action to stop this harm,” said Hugo Tagholm, chief executive of Surfers Against Sewage.
“We cannot stand for this blatant greenwashing any longer. Systemic change is urgently needed to end the pollution swamping the land and ocean.”
He called on businesses to reduce packaging and transition to reusable packaging.
“Legislation such as an ‘all-in’ deposit scheme needs to be introduced urgently and governments must hold these companies to account,” Tagholm added.
He said an estimated 55% of packaging could be captured through an ‘all-in’ deposit scheme. which would include drinks containers of all sizes and materials including glass, not just small containers classified as ‘on-the-go’.
Coca-Cola recently announced a new reusable packaging target, aiming for at least 25% of all beverages worldwide to be sold in refillable or returnable glass or plastic bottles and containers by 2030.
A Coca-Cola spokesperson told Sky News: "We share the goal of eliminating plastic waste from the environment and acknowledge that The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) has a responsibility to help solve this issue.
"That was the driving force in establishing our 'world without waste' goals, and while we continue to make progress against these targets, we are challenging ourselves to do more."
Meanwhile, a McDonald's spokesperson said: "Over 90% of the packaging we use comes from recycled or renewable sources and can be recycled.
"As a business we have committed to sourcing all of our packaging from renewable and recyclable materials by 2025."
According to a PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) UK spokesperson, the company plans to “eliminate virgin fossil-based plastic in all crisp and snack bags, delivered by using 100% recycled or renewable content in all packets by 2030.
"We also believe that deposit return schemes can provide a critical source of high quality, clean recyclate which is why we continue to be supportive of well-designed schemes," the spokesperson told Sky News.