Greenpeace: Coke, Pepsi, Nestle top plastic polluters

Drink companies Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestle were found to be the world's biggest producers of plastic trash, a report by environmental group Greenpeace said yesterday.

Working with the Break Free From Plastic movement, Greenpeace said it orchestrated 239 plastic clean-ups in 42 countries around the world, which resulted in the audit of 187,000 pieces of plastic trash. The aim was to get a picture of how large corporations contribute to the problem of pollution. Coca-Cola, the world's largest soft drink maker, was the top waste producer, Greenpeace said, with Coke-branded plastic trash found in 40 of the 42 countries.

All three companies have made pledges about their packaging for 2025. Coke says all its packaging will be recyclable, Nestle says it will be recyclable or reusable and PepsiCo says it will be recyclable, compostable or biodegradable.