Bottled Water and Beverages Generate the Most Single-Use Plastic Waste... Which Company Emits the Most?

Greenpeace Investigates Plastic Emitting Companies
4 Consecutive Years Leading in 'Bottled Water and Beverages'
Lotte Chilsung Tops for 3 Consecutive Years
Coupang Ranks with PB Product 'Tamsa Water' Alone

Among domestic single-use plastic waste, 78.3% consists of food packaging materials, and nearly half of this amount comes from bottled water and beverages, according to a recent survey.

Food Packaging Accounts for 78.3% of Single-Use Plastic Waste... Bottled Water and Beverages Lead

[Image source=Pixabay]

On the 24th, Greenpeace published the '2023 Plastic Emission Corporate Survey Report - We Drink Single-Use' revealing that the largest amount of single-use plastic waste comes from bottled water and beverages. According to the report, 78.3% of all single-use plastic waste is food packaging, indicating that most single-use plastics discarded by citizens in daily life are food packaging materials. In particular, bottled water and beverages account for 48.1% of food packaging, nearly half, and represent the highest proportion at 37.6% of total single-use plastics. One out of every three single-use plastics we discard comes from single-use beverages. Bottled water and beverages have been the category generating the highest emissions for four consecutive years, making it the product group requiring the most urgent change.

The plastic emission survey involved 2,084 citizens. Participants discarded a total of 86,055 single-use plastic items over one week, averaging about 41.3 single-use plastic items per person. This report analyzes the results of a plastic emission survey where citizens recorded the plastics they used and discarded over a week using an app. The Plastic Emission Survey (Plcock Survey) has been conducted by Greenpeace for four years since 2020 to urge major plastic-emitting companies to reduce their plastic emissions.

Top 5 Companies in Single-Use Plastic Emissions Have No Plans for Reuse or Refill

Greenpeace also revealed the ranking of companies with the highest single-use plastic emissions in bottled water and beverages in this survey. Lotte Chilsung Beverage ranked first, holding the top spot for three consecutive years since 2021. Following were Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Development Corporation, which manufactures Samdasoo, in second place, and Coca-Cola in third. Coupang was the only online retailer to make the list, ranking fourth solely with its private brand product 'Tamsa Water.' Dong-A Otsuka, which manufactures Pocari Sweat, ranked fifth. The plastic waste from bottled water and beverages emitted by the top five companies accounted for 9,964 out of 32,373 total items, representing 30.8%.

Greenpeace analyzed the plastic usage status and reduction plans through the sustainability management reports (ESG) and business performance reports disclosed by the top five bottled water and beverage companies. Only some companies disclosed their plastic usage and reduction targets, and no company in Korea had plans for the ultimate solution of reuse and refill. Although Coca-Cola, ranked third in plastic emissions, has global plans for reuse and refill, no specific plans for reuse and refill were confirmed domestically.

Kim Nara, Greenpeace Plastic Campaigner, stated, "Beverage companies have emitted the most single-use plastics for four consecutive years but have not taken responsibility or induced the ultimate changes appropriate to this. These companies must transparently disclose their annual single-use plastic usage and implement reuse and refill-based systems to create practical measures to reduce single-use plastic waste." She added, "Furthermore, the government must not overlook these companies' deceptive practices and, as the host country of the final meeting of the international plastic treaty and a member of the friendly nations coalition demanding a strong treaty, must introduce robust policies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.