Plastic pollution:half of the global one is caused by a few multinationals

There are Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nestlé, Danone and many others.Fewer than 60 multinationals are responsible for almost half of the world's plastic pollution, including 6 companies which alone represent a quarter of the total:this is what emerges from a new study conducted by an international team of scientists including some belonging to non-profit organizations.The research, already subjected to peer review and published in the scientific journal Science Advances, was based on the work of tens of thousands of volunteers who analyzed almost 2 million pieces of plastic waste collected in 84 different countries over a 5-year period from beaches, parks and rivers.This is a research that will focus the magnifying glass on single-use plastic and on the recycling strategies of multinationals since, according to the study's analyses, there is a correlation with direct proportionality between the annual plastic production of companies and the frequency of their brand detected among the waste found.“We have to make a Herculean effort,” said Win Cowger, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Moore Institute for Plastic Pollution Research.

An international team of over 100,000 volunteers collected 1,870,000 pieces of plastic waste in 84 countries in five years, most of which was disposable packaging for food, beverages and tobacco-related products.Of the nearly 2 million objects recovered from parks, beaches and waterways, approximately 910,000 had marks still visible and were therefore classified:half of the plastic came from by just 56 multinationals, including The Coca-Cola Company (11%), PepsiCo (5%), Nestlé (3%), Danone (3%) and Altria (2%) which alone accounted for almost a quarter of the total.Additionally, researchers found that there is a direct relationship between a company's annual plastic production and how often its products were found:the authors explained that if PepsiCo, for example, produced 1% of the world's plastic mass, then the frequency of PepsiCo waste found would be approximately 1%, adding that this phenomenon could demonstrate that recycling and waste management efforts are not enough to contain the plastic problem:«Many of these companies actually have programs in place to recover their waste from the environment or prevent it from ending up there.And what we're seeing is that these aren't really effective." he declared Neil Tangri, co-author of the research and science and policy director of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, an organization that promotes the search for solutions to pollution.“It's kind of my worst nightmare.It means that to solve the problem of plastic pollution, we must fundamentally change the way we operate as a society,” added Cowger.

On the other hand, "the industry prefers to attribute responsibility to individuals", he stated co-author Marcus Eriksen, who added:«But we would like to point out that it is the brands, it is their choice for the type of packaging and for the adoption of this disposable model of delivery of their products.This is what causes the greatest abundance of rubbish."To the request for comment forwarded by The Guardian, The Coca-Cola Company responded by promising the commitment of make 100% of packaging recyclable by 2025, Danone and Nestlé said they had significantly reduced the use of plastic and to support waste collection and recycling programs while two other companies contested the accuracy of the data collected.However, the experts who carried out the research said that such strategies are not sufficient and such concerns appear supported by the data:plastic production is doubled since the early 2000s and some studies would show that only 9% of plastic is actually recycled.Finally, several plastic industry groups argue that the material helps boost the global economy and that production limits would disproportionately affect low-income people while, on the other hand, scientists say that without production limits Plastic will continue to accumulate in the environment and in the human body:“It's been the status quo for a long time.And obviously it doesn't work,” concluded Cowger.

[by Roberto Demaio]