Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Drinks industry UK’s largest polluter again
COCA-COLA, PepsiCo and Heineken products made up almost a quarter of branded litter found by volunteers during a UK environmental clean-up project.
More than half (51%) of identifiable litter can be traced back to just 10 brands – Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Cadbury, Red Bull, Walkers, Lucozade, Stella Artois, Tesco, Budweiser and Strongbow – according to the third annual Planet Patrol report.
The drinks industry is the largest polluter for the second year running and responsible for more than a third of litter found in 2020 and 2021, with items including cans, plastic and glass bottles, single-use cups and lids.
Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Heineken packaging made up almost a quarter of all branded litter (23%) in the annual count.
A total of 85,326 pieces of litter were recorded in 2021.