Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

This report reflects the continuation of many years of hard work by members of the Break Free From Plastic global movement to expose the world’s top corporate plastic polluters.

First and foremost, thank you to everyone who participated in a brand audit and submitted their data. Recording this data is meticulous, time-consuming work, and we appreciate your commitment to this important citizen action initiative, particularly during such a challenging year. The “Branded” report relies on the efforts of people like you around the world. Thank you again to the 14,734 volunteers who took part in this year’s brand audit!

We are also grateful for the pioneering efforts of the original groups who collaborated in 2017 to design the foundational brand audit methodology: the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), Mother Earth Foundation, Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG), and Greenpeace Philippines. Thank you for laying the groundwork to make this initiative possible.

Many thanks to Neil Tangri and Win Cowger for advising on our scientific methodology, as well as to our data scientist Vince Vertulfo. Your contributions to improving the brand audit methodology, tools and processes have been critical to the integrity of the data upon which this report is built.

Our deepest gratitude goes to our translation team, whose work enabled more people around the world to both participate in and learn from the global brand audit initiative: Youssef Alshatti, Anastasiia Martynenko, Jaka Kranjc, Evgenia Tasheva, Claudia Sick, Isadora Ortiz, Felipe Torres, Seema Prabhu, Rima Agustina, Gusti Krishna, Ira Jalik, Pennapa Kradtarn, Liao Zita, Meg Imperio, Quach Thi Xuan, Carla Wichmann, Marina Tomović, Manfred Santen, Giuseppe Ungherese, Iveta Cadrova, and Choony Kim.

A special thank you to this year’s editorial team: Marina Ivlev of 5Gyres, Felipe Torres of GAIA Latin America, Anastasiia Martynenko of NGO Zero Waste Society Ukraine, Carissa Marnce of GAIA Africa, Sherma Benosa of GAIA Asia Pacific, Jen Fela of Greenpeace USA, as well as Emma Priestland, Brett Nadrich, Estelle Eonnet, Jed Alegado, Shilpi Chhotray and Von Hernandez from the BFFP Team. Thank you for bringing your diverse perspectives and thoughtful feedback to the report development process.

Thank you to all our guest writers who contributed to the report text: Alex Gordon, Dr. Ben Locwin, Kathleen Collins, Lakshmi Narayan, Louise Edge, Miko Aliño, Dr. Owosu Boampong, Simon Mbata, and Valquiria Candido da Silva.

Finally, none of the brand audit coordination or report publication could have been possible without the generous financial support of the Flotilla Foundation and the Plastic Solutions Fund. Thank you for believing in us and making our work a reality.

With gratitude,

Sybil Bullock Global Brand Audit Coordinator Break Free From Plastic

Cover Image: © Cecily Anderson/Anagramist.com Published under responsibility of GAIA | 1958 University Avenue | Berkeley, CA 94704 USA https://www.https://www.no-burn.org/ 6