EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Executive Summary In 2020, thanks to our members and allies, Break Free From Plastic engaged
14,734 volunteers in 55 countries to conduct 575 brand audits. These volunteers collected 346,494 pieces of plastic waste, 63% of which was marked with
a clear consumer brand. Despite the challenges of organizing during a global pandemic, our volunteers safely coordinated more brand audit events in more
countries this year than in the previous two years. As a special activity during the pandemic, we also worked with over 300 waste pickers to highlight their roles as essential workers.
Participants catalogued over 5,000 brands in this year’s global audit. Our analysis
reveals the following as the 2020 Top 10 Global Polluters: The Coca-Cola Company; PepsiCo; Nestlé; Unilever; Mondelez International; Mars, Inc.; Procter & Gamble; Philip Morris International; Colgate-Palmolive; and Perfetti Van Melle. The title of Top Global Polluters describes the
parent companies whose brands were record-
ed polluting the most places around the world
with the greatest amount of plastic waste. Our 2020 Top Global Polluters remain remarkably
consistent with our previous brand audit reports, demonstrating that the same corporations are continuing to pollute the most places
with the most single-use plastic1. Coca-Cola,
Nestlé, and PepsiCo have remained our Top Three Global Polluters every year since our first global brand audit in 20182.
For the third consecutive year, Coca-Cola
emerged as the #1 Top Global Polluter. A total
2
“Break Free From Plastic engaged 14,734 volunteers in 55 countries to conduct 575 brand audits. These volunteers collected 346,494 pieces of plastic waste.”
