A report has today revealed that only twenty companies are responsible for over half of the single-use plastic produced globally.
Both state-owned and multinational corporations are behind this plastic waste crisis.
The report – ‘The Plastic Waste Makers index’ – revealed the companies behind the world’s single-use plastics and also ranked the biggest polluting companies.
The list revealed that Australia generates the most single-use plastic waste per capita at 59kg per person annually, followed by the US, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.
ExxonMobil is the largest polluter, contributing 5.9m tonnes of plastic waste. Dow, the world’s largest chemicals company, contributed 5.5m tonnes, and Sinopec, China’s oil and gas enterprise, created 5.3m.
Across the spectrum, Asia hosts eleven of the twenty companies, Europe four, North America three, and Latin America and the Middle East one.
Higginson says:
The outcome of this report is extremely alarming – although not surprising. The world’s largest companies need to realise their responsibility when it comes to driving global markets and the need to reduce their plastic footprint, setting a standard for others to follow. We also need to be moving away from oil-based plastic to sustainable, natural alternatives. This report reveals the extent to which oil giants are backing a plastic future as electricity and transport are being forced to decarbonise.