Which 10 companies are the worst plastic polluters?

Article Extract: Coca-Cola claims 90% of its packaging is currently recyclable where infrastructure exists^7;p4. Unfortunately, 91% of plastics worldwide end up in landfills¹⁰, which means that in spite of CC's recyclable design, 3.08Mn t of the company's plastics are landfilled.

In 2021, Coca-Cola pledged to introduce recycled plastic bottles and consume 50% recycled material in its bottles and cans by 2030⁹. The company also developed the first 100% plant-based bottle prototype¹¹. Despite CC's efforts, Coca-Cola was named the #1 Top Global Polluter of 2021 based on a study that analyzed 330,493 pieces of plastic^6;p1-3. Since 2018, the recorded plastic by the company has more than doubled, showing the company's initiatives have had little impact^6;p19.

CC's plastic waste is nearly 1% of global annual plastic production and equals the waste generated by 12.5Mn people a year¹².

Article Extract: Unilever (U) was the fourth largest FMCG company in 2018⁶. It has not disclosed its total packaging waste production. However, Unilever used 690,000 tonnes of plastics in 80% of its operations in 2020². Thus, Unilever's total plastic use could be estimated at around 863,000 t².

The company claims 50% of its plastic packaging is compostable, reusable, or recyclable². Sadly, as only 10% of plastic is currently recycled¹, around 776,205 t of U's plastic still ends up in landfills every year.

From 2017 levels, U's plastic use has only decreased by around 1.5%. By 2025, Unilever aims to achieve an absolute plastic reduction of 100,000 tonnes (a 12% reduction from 2020). Currently, 11% of Unilever's plastic is post-consumer recycled, a figure the company has pledged to increase to 25% in five years⁵. In 2018, this figure stood at 1%, showing the company has made progress on this matter¹¹.

In spite of this, Unilever was found to be the third Top Plastic Global Polluter in 2021 based on an independent study that analyzed samples of plastics not properly disposed of. This shows the company's initiatives are currently having little impact^10;p16 .

Unilever's total plastic waste equals 1% of the plastic used by the food and beverage industry³ and is equivalent to the waste generated by 3.2Mn people a year, considering the avg. person generates 0.27 t of waste annually⁸.

Article Extract: P&G is a company involved in the provision of consumer packaged goods⁵. In FY19/20, P&G used ~705k t of plastic packaging and ~840k t of paper packaging, bringing P&G’s total PW to ~1.5M t^6;p103,131. P&G sells sanitary pads and diapers, a major source of plastic waste¹⁴. Of the 3.6M t of diapers landfilled worldwide, 900k t can be attributed to P&G considering the company has a 25% global market share^{12 11;p14}. In Europe, 590k t of waste is generated for menstrual products¹³. If we consider P&G's market share (25%) and the fact it sells 22% of its products in the region^11;p2, it can be roughly estimated P&G generated 670.5k t of menstrual products worldwide. Thus P&G's baby and sanitary product waste is estimated at 1.57Mn t, its total product waste at 3.1Mn t and total plastic waste at 2.3M t.

Unfortunately, 91% of plastics in the world end up in landfills, which suggests ~2.1M t of P&G’s plastics were landfilled⁸. Considering that on avg. a person generates 0.27t of waste annually, P&G's plastic waste is equal to the waste produced by ~7.7M people^10,6;p103.

P&G aims to make its PW 100% recyclable or reusable by 2030^6;p103. In 2021, it rolled out a refill program for its shampoo brands in Europe, in one of the company's efforts to achieve its 50% virgin petroleum reduction pledge by 2030^6;p104. However, according to a survey by an NGO, P&G is part of the top 10 plastic polluting companies^9;p2.

Article Extract: Phillip Morris (PM), is a tobacco company involved in the manufacturing & sale of cigarettes, tobacco, etc⁵. It serves ~150M customers globally⁶.

In 2020, PM total packaging waste was ~428,140t of which 91% was paper waste, 6% (25,470 t) was plastic waste, 1% was aluminum waste, and 2% of other waste^7;p123. PM sold 800B cigarettes and 24.4B units of heated tobacco products in 2021^11,12. Considering the avg. weight of a cigarette butt is 0.35g & IQOS' is 121g, PM generated ~280,000t of cigarette waste (100% plastic¹⁵) & ~3M t of IQOS waste. As IQOS batteries weight 69g¹⁶, around 1.7M t of hazardous waste and 1.3M t of plastic were produced by PM's IQOS^14,13;p1. Thus, PM's total product waste adds up to 3.7M t, out of which almost 54% (1.6M t) is plastic.

PM sourced ~127,000 t of plastic in 2020 but did not disclose how much came from recycled sources or how much was recyclable^7;p113. Considering 91% of plastic waste ends up in landfills, an estimated ~1.45M t of PM’s plastics were landfilled^8,7. As an avg. a person generates 0.27t of waste annually, PM’s total plastic waste is equal to the waste produced by ~5.4M people in 2020^9,6;p113.

Through product design, educational campaigns, and collection schemes, PM aims to reduce its plastic waste by 50% by 2025. However, according to an NGO survey, PM is part of the top 10 plastic polluting companies in the world^10;p2. Despite PM's aims, its plastics are affectively ending up in landfills^{9;p2,6;p122,125}.

Mars is known for its confectionery products such as Mars bars, Snickers, Twix, Milky Way bars, M&M's and Skittles. Many of which are products wrapped in plastic. Mars was named 9th in the Break Free from Plastic report, the company actually increased plastic production in 2020, in 2019 they had an annual footprint of 184k tonnes.

Whilst it appears Mars are making efforts to reduce their plastic or find innovative ways to change, alongside their commitment to use 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025, it seems they are a long way off when looking at these results.

With the right investment companies having a positive impact on the planet are able to flourish. Our community forms part of that mission by measuring their impact.