Five Companies Responsible for Majority of Global Plastic Pollution.mp4

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The world has a plastic problem, especially in our planet’s oceans. In fact, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch covers an estimated area around twice the size of the state of Texas. Now, a new study looking at traceable plastic has discovered that just a few companies are responsible for a massive portion of all of it. Veuer’s Tony Spitz has the details.

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00:00The world has a plastic problem, especially in our planet's oceans, with the Great Pacific

00:05Garbage Patch covering an estimated area around twice the size of the state of Texas.

00:10Now a new study looking at traceable plastic has discovered something pretty wild. An incredible

00:1524% of all traceable plastic can be linked to just five companies. The study was conducted

00:20by an international team of researchers from 2018 to 2022, looking at some 1.8 million

00:25individual pieces of plastic waste. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo were some of the worst offenders,

00:31accounting for 11% and 5% of the plastic waste respectively. Nestle, makers of both food and

00:37beverages, was also in the top five. Meanwhile, French-based food product corporation Denoun

00:42and American tobacco product manufacturer Altria round out the rest. According to the researchers,

00:48increased accountability to just a handful of companies could be a game-changer with regards

00:52to combating plastic waste. Writing in their recently published paper, quote,

00:56phasing out single-use and short-lived plastic products by the largest polluters would greatly

01:00reduce global plastic pollution. The researchers say that on-the-go consumption of food and beverage

01:05items means they are less likely to make their way into a bin, recycling or otherwise, meaning

01:10they are far more likely to end up here.

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