07 Dec Break Free From Plastic 2020 Brand Audit Report

Break Free From Plastic completed their annual brand audit to discover where plastic waste is coming from, as well as identifying the top plastic polluters. The volunteers collected 346,494 pieces of plastic from 55 different countries. The graph below shows the top three polluters in 10 of the countries that submitted the most data. 

The top 10 worst polluters were (in order from most pollution to least pollution) Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestle, Unilever, Mondelez, Mars, P&G, Philip Morris, Colgate-Palmolive, and Perfetti van Melle. 

So what can we do about this? Reflect on your own lifestyle choices and do a “brand audit” on your own home. How many of the top 10 brands are in your household? Did you notice any other brands that brought a lot of plastic into your home? Try to find ways to limit the amount of plastics you interact with in your life, which may mean changing brands or purchasing different items. Everyday people are essential to push for changes within government and companies. Ways you can do this are to boycott polluting corporations, write letters to the decision-makers where you live, make your voice heard on social media, and find movements around you that have group members fighting for the things you believe in. 

For more information and to see the report, go to https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/.