News

In a recent weeklong beach cleanup and audit on Freedom Island in the Philippines, Greenpeace found Nestle, Unilever, and PT Torabika Mayora to be the biggest contributors to plastic waste pollution. The cleanup took place in a critical wetland habitat, which has more plastic pollution than anywhere else in the Philippines.

The movement audit is the first of its kind and goes by the appropriate hashtag #breakfreefromplastic. The plastic waste was collected and counted and totaled 54,260 pieces of plastic. Each year, the Philippines has roughly 1.88 million metric tons of poorly managed plastic waste entering the environment.

Apparently, sachet packaging—thin plastic or aluminum—has allowed big companies to increase market share and profits by appealing to poorer communities. Companies that distribute their sachet packaged goods to developing countries ultimately promote more consumption, which results in polluted communities, as waste management systems can’t keep up.

Greenpeace found the following companies to be the top 10 worst offenders on Freedom Island:

1. Nestle
2. Unilever
3. PT Torabika Mayora
4. Universal Robina Corporation
5. Procter & Gamble
6. Nutri-Asia
7. Monde Nissin
8. Zesto
9. Colgate Palmolive
10. Liwayway

Read more here.