SEATTLE (Recycling Monster): The latest study carried out by Break Free from Plastic has identified soft drinks major Coca-Cola as the world’s topmost plastic polluter. This is the fifth straight time the company has been featured top in the list. It was followed by Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestle, Unilever, Mondelez International, Mars, Procter & Gamble, Philip Morris International, Danone, and Ferrero Group.

The movement had entrusted more than 200,000 volunteers with the job of collecting waste from indoors and outdoors, streets and neighbourhoods in as many as 87 countries across the world during the five-year period from 2018 to 2022.

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As per estimates, a total of around 2.126 million pieces of plastic waste were collected. Over 31,000 Coca-Cola branded products were found this year. This is significantly higher when compared with 19,826 in 2021.

Break Free From Plastic noted that the FMCG companies continued to dominate the list, with Coca-Cola emerging as the clear winner in the list of top plastic polluters, with a significant margin in all the five years. It featured as the top polluter in a dozen countries, including Bangladesh, Argentina, Malaysia, Kenya.

It urged governments from all over the world to take necessary actions to compel these polluters to accelerate investment in reuse and alternative product delivery systems