Global producer responsibility for plastic pollution

Sci Adv. 2024 Apr 26;10(17):eadj8275. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adj8275. Epub 2024 Apr 24.

Abstract

Brand names can be used to hold plastic companies accountable for their items found polluting the environment. We used data from a 5-year (2018-2022) worldwide (84 countries) program to identify brands found on plastic items in the environment through 1576 audit events. We found that 50% of items were unbranded, calling for mandated producer reporting. The top five brands globally were The Coca-Cola Company (11%), PepsiCo (5%), Nestlé (3%), Danone (3%), and Altria (2%), accounting for 24% of the total branded count, and 56 companies accounted for more than 50%. There was a clear and strong log-log linear relationship production (%) = pollution (%) between companies' annual production of plastic and their branded plastic pollution, with food and beverage companies being disproportionately large polluters. Phasing out single-use and short-lived plastic products by the largest polluters would greatly reduce global plastic pollution.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Environmental Pollution*
  • Humans
  • Plastics*

Substances

  • Plastics