A survey of 50 of the largest consumer-facing goods firms, including PepsiCo, Kraft Heinz and Kellogg, has found that companies are generally failing to take ambitious action on plastic pollution, despite lofty pledges to do so. Conducted by nonprofit As You Sow, the study analysed the plastics pledges and actions of the businesses across six key areas: product design; reusable packaging; recycled content; packaging data transparency; supporting recycling and producer responsibility.
Unilever received the highest overall company grade of the cohort, a B-. Last year, Unilever announced it would halve its use of virgin plastic by 2025 by reducing plastic packaging by more than 100,000 tonnes, increasing the amount of recycled plastics it uses and collecting and processing more plastic packaging than it sells. Nonetheless, As You Sow said it would not describe Unilever as a “leadership company”.
At the other end of the rankings, 15 firms scored an overall ‘F’ grade, including Papa John’s, Domino’s Pizza, Tyson Foods and Whole Foods. A further 22 firms scored a ‘D’ grade overall, including Kraft Heinz, Kimberly-Clark, Kellogg, PepsiCo, Heineken, Mondelez International, Burger King and Yum! Brands, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Many of these brands are members of collaborative initiatives to reduce plastic pollution, such as the Alliance to End Plastic Waste or the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Commitment.
When looking at focus areas as opposed to individual companies, As You Sow found the strongest progress in packaging design and recycled content. Companies have faced increasing pressure to act on these issues in recent years, the report notes, from investors, consumers and changing legislation alike – with those repeatedly called out by activists making the fastest progress. Of the 50 businesses, 21 have made public commitments to redesign packaging.But most of the companies are still lagging in establishing reusable or refillable packaging models, with none of the cohort having set time-bound, numerical targets for the transition away from single-use. Only two firms – Nestle Waters and Coca-Cola – generated 15% or more of their revenue from reusable models.
As You Sow concluded that it is imperative for these companies to increase ambition and action now, to prevent virgin plastic production increasing sharply through to 2050. Research by WWF last year concluded that the amount of plastics produced, littered and incinerated globally is set to rise “dramatically” by 2030, despite recent action by businesses. The NGO also sees wellbeing, economic and climate benefits from strong action on plastics, through reduced pollution of nature, more jobs in the recycling sector and lower emissions from mitigated or recycled materials respectively. On the latter, the report cites research revealing that greenhouse gas emissions from the plastics sector could eat into 13% of the Earth’s entire remaining carbon budget by 2050.
Source: edie.net
Global site 
Finnish site