Skip to main content

Unilever, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola among India's top 10 global plastic polluters: Report

 
Unilever, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Company emerge as the top international brands contributing to plastic pollution in India. Seven of the top 10 international brands --mostly fast-moving consumer goods – polluting India have consistently featured in the world's top 10 plastic polluters list based on the Break Free From Plastic's (BFFP) annual Brand Audit report.
Over 1,000 volunteers from across 19 states in India conducted brand audits to identify the most common plastic polluters in the country. The groups audited a total of 149,985 pieces of plastic, 70% of which were marked with a clear consumer brand.
Also in the top 10 international plastic polluters are Reckitt Benckiser, Nestle, Amazon/ Whole Foods, Colgate-Palmolive, Proctor & Gamble, Kraft Heinz, and Mondelez International. Despite these corporations' sustainability commitments and initiatives, they still fall short in addressing the problem.
Meanwhile, the top 10 Indian plastic polluters are: Parle Products Private Limited, ITC Ltd., Britannia Industries Ltd., Haldiram's, United Spirits Limited, TATA Group, Marico Ltd., Hector Beverages Pvt. Ltd., Milky Mist Dairy Products and Balaji Wafers Private Limited. The top 10 international brands contributed 15% of plastic waste, while the top 10 Indian polluters made up just over 10% of plastic waste.
“Given that 99% of plastic is made from fossil fuels, and that the fossil fuel corporations are actively shifting their focus to plastic as an increasing source of revenue, all of these companies are contributing significantly to both the climate crisis and the plastic pollution crisis,” said Satyarupa Shekar, Asia Pacific Coordinator of BFFP.
The pan-India Brand Audit Report also shifts back the focus of plastic pollution to the FMCGs, many of whom sell their products in low value packaging formats which they label as pro-poor and pro climate, but in reality have externalised the real costs on people and the environment.
The brand audit report also spotlights the contribution of waste pickers to plastic waste management.
"For years, the informal recycling sector in India has internalised the cost of plastic waste management that should have been borne by the producers. Now, with the anticipated Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) mandate, there is a risk that companies will set up parallel, centralised, private recycling systems that will displace informal sector workers”, said Lubna Anantakrishnan of SWaCH, who authored the India Brand Audit Report 2021.
“EPR systems should be designed in consultation with informal sector waste pickers, and investment should be channelled towards capacity building and formalisation, and supporting materials that are currently unviable for recycling,” she added.
BFFP claims to be be a global movement envisioning a future free from plastic pollution. Since its launch in 2016, more than 2,000 organizations and 11,000 individual supporters from across the world have joined the movement to demand massive reductions in single-use plastics and push for lasting solutions to the plastic pollution crisis, a BFFP source said.
“BFFP member organizations and individuals share the shared values of environmental protection and social justice and work together through a holistic approach to bring about systemic change. This means tackling plastic pollution across the whole plastics value chain --from extraction to disposal -- focusing on prevention rather than cure and providing effective solutions”, it added.

Comments

TRENDING

When Pakistanis whispered: ‘end military rule’ — A Moscow memoir

During the recent anti-terror operation inside Pakistan by the Government of India, called Operation Sindoor — a name some feminists consider patently patriarchal, even though it’s officially described as a tribute to the wives of the 26 husbands killed in the terrorist strike — I was reminded of my Moscow stint, which lasted for seven long years, from 1986 to 1993.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

RP Gupta a scapegoat to help Govt of India manage fallout of Adani case in US court?

RP Gupta, a retired 1987-batch IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre, has found himself at the center of a growing controversy. During my tenure as the Times of India correspondent in Gandhinagar (1997–2012), I often interacted with him. He struck me as a straightforward officer, though I never quite understood why he was never appointed to what are supposed to be top-tier departments like industries, energy and petrochemicals, finance, or revenue.

Environmental report raises alarm: Sabarmati one of four rivers with nonylphenol contamination

A new report by Toxics Link , an Indian environmental research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund , a global non-profit headquartered in New York, has raised the alarm that Sabarmati is one of five rivers across India found to contain unacceptable levels of nonylphenol (NP), a chemical linked to "exposure to carcinogenic outcomes, including prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women."

PharmEasy: The only online medical store which revises prices upwards after confirming the order

For senior citizens — especially those without a family support system — ordering medicines online can be a great relief. Shruti and I have been doing this for the last couple of years, and with considerable success. We upload a prescription, receive a verification call from a doctor, and within two or three days, the medicines are delivered to our doorstep.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Revisiting Gijubhai: Pioneer of child-centric education and the caste debate

It was Krishna Kumar, the well-known educationist, who I believe first introduced me to the name — Gijubhai Badheka (1885–1939). Hailing from Bhavnagar, known as the cultural capital of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, Gijubhai, Kumar told me during my student days, made significant contributions to the field of pedagogy — something that hasn't received much attention from India's education mandarins. At that time, Kumar was my tutorial teacher at Kirorimal College, Delhi University.

A sector under siege? War and real estate: Navigating uncertainty in India's expanding market

I was a little surprised when I received an email alert from a top real estate consultant, Anarock Group , titled "Exploring War’s Effects on Indian Real Estate—When Conflict Meets Concrete," authored by its regional director and head of research, Dr. Prashant Thakur. I had thought that the business would wholeheartedly support what is considered a strong response to the dastardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor.