A business' main priority is to ensure consumers continue to purchase their products. To do so, they tiptoe the line between consumer opinion and company ideals and priorities. They will alter their company or product branding, manufacturing process, or recipe to remain aligned with consumer demand. Whether these changes create the real change desired by consumers is another topic entirely. This discrepancy is the basis of “the green concept”, also known as “greenwashing”. Th

When we think about responding to the climate crisis, transitioning our energy systems away from oil and gas has always been clear. But what about investment in petrochemicals? Petrochemicals are fossil-fuel-derived substances – they’re used to produce a range of synthetic materials and substances, including plastics and fertilisers. Not only are they heavily reliant on fossil fuels, but they have the highest energy demand of all industrial sectors, and will likely override l

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a rotating vortex of plastic debris, now spans three times the size of France, holding an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic. That number keeps climbing not because solutions don't exist, but because the industry responsible for managing plastic waste has little financial reason to shrink it. Since 1950, the world has produced 6300 million tonnes of plastic waste. Of that, roughly 9% has been recycled; the rest was incinerated, landfille

Delegations once again gathered in Nairobi this July to resume negotiations on the formation of a global plastics treaty, amid continuing disagreements on what is to be included. While some delegates reported “incredibly positive” engagement from this latest round of negotiations, several nations continue to push the proposal of a waste-only treaty, overlooking the compounding issues surrounding plastics such as chemicals and new plastics production. The exclusion of such iss

Plastic is a non-biodegradable material that has long-lasting negative effects on both the environment and public health. However, it has also become the preferred material of food packaging manufacturers because of its easy storage, cost-effectiveness, and extensive availability. The vast majority of the packaging industry is not looking to replace plastic, even in light of the current pollution crisis. However, the industry's marketing teams have noticed that younger consum

Plastic pollution should be on everyone’s mind, with single-use plastic items such as plastic bags and snack and food wrap packaging being at the top of the list. These items pose a serious risk globally by destroying natural environments, creating unmanageable waste, and increasing health hazards. A typical UK household generates 20 to 30 items of single-use plastic a week (most of which comprises soft plastic packaging such as film lids and food wrappers). This has led to a

Indonesia is one of the most recent Southeast Asian countries to ban plastic waste imports. Despite the ban, the consequences of plastic waste imports inundating Indonesian communities remain, and they serve as a warning for neighbouring countries yet to impose their own bans. The Indonesian government initially attempted to create livelihoods with the waste imports. Paper mills were to use these imports to source scrap paper to reuse in their production, and local communitie

As the public has become more concerned about plastic, Coca-Cola has deliberately hidden how harmful their products are to the environment. Coca-Cola is the world’s biggest plastic polluter and yet they present themselves as a sustainable brand. Coca-Cola has used deceptive advertising and misleading claims about their plastic packaging. They have presented recycling as the solution to the plastic problem, whilst producing more and more plastic. They have offered various vol

Soft plastic pollution is a global problem that negatively impacts the environment and the health of people living in countries with the most vulnerable climates and waste management systems. The corporations behind soft plastic pollution have not done enough to invest in effective waste management systems to handle the soft plastic they produce. Therefore, governments and consumers play a vital role in creating protections against soft plastic pollution. Various governmen

Coca-Cola has deliberately hidden the damage its ever increasing plastic packaging does to the environment. Their deceptive advertising and push for recycling as the primary solution can be seen as examples of greenwashing. Many voluntary promises for sustainable change have been made and abandoned. These misleading marketing claims can be seen as part of a wider tactic to distract the public and delay and derail legislation that restricts plastic use. Coca-Cola has lobbied

Between 24 and 29 April, 57 countries participated in a historic conference on the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, hosted in Santa Marta (Colombia), Participants discussed how to speed up the phaseout of fossil fuels, focusing on coordinated action rather than passive debate. This stands in opposition to the yearly UN climate conferences (COPs), which have discussed the transition but have not yet produced an action plan. While conferences and reports organised by the UN a

Single-use soft plastics, such as sachets and crisp packets, are produced on a massive scale but are nearly impossible to recycle. Nevertheless, they are exported across the world for waste management. The sorting process for soft plastic waste is difficult and requires that workers identify and separate over seven different types of plastics, often by burning them and smelling the fumes produced. To be recycled, the sorted plastic must then be cut into fine pieces, washed, a

In response to public pressure concerning plastic pollution, Coca-Cola launched their World Without Waste campaign in 2018. They appeared to accept some responsibility for the waste they produce and announced voluntary pledges for environmental change. In their 2022 business sustainability report, Coca-Cola presented voluntary targets for packaging. These included aiming for 50% recycled content in packaging, selling 25% of their products in reusable packaging, and collectin

Here in the UK, 9.25 million tonnes of plastic waste leaves our dockyards and heads to developing countries. Why do we ship it off? Because the UK government wants to offload the responsibility of processing our plastic waste. However, this comes at the significant detriment of importing countries’ economies, environments, and health. For three decades, China imported over 70% of the world’s plastic waste, but that all changed in 2018. In the eight years since China banned th

Single-use soft plastics, such as sachets and crisp packets, are produced on a massive scale but are nearly impossible to recycle. Inadequate investment in waste management results in these plastics ending up in rivers, oceans, streets, and backyards across the world. The trouble with sachets… Soft plastics - defined as flexible plastic materials that do not hold a specific shape - are produced from natural gas or fossil fuels that are extracted from shale (a rock composed of

Recycling is often proposed as the answer to plastic pollution. In practice, however, recycling is totally failing - both technologically and economically. Most plastic is not recycled (under 9% globally), and even when it is, the process often degrades the material, making it more toxic and limiting its future use. Mechanical recycling, the most common method, involves melting and remolding plastic. This causes the plastic quality to drop with each cycle, ending up in a plas

Coca-Cola has a history of deceptively marketing its products as sustainable. Tactics include campaigns to manipulate consumers and using misleading content in advertising and on packaging. Litter Bugs In the 1950s Coca-Cola, along with other beverage corporations, created the Keep America Beautiful advertising campaign. This campaign pushed the idea that consumers are responsible for litter, promoting community ‘clean-ups’ and deflecting corporate responsibility. In 2024, C

Danone is a French food and drink giant and a major plastic polluter. In September 2022, a coalition of anti-plastic NGOs, including ClientEarth, Surfrider Foundation Europe, and Zero Waste France, issued a legal warning to Danone, in an effort to get the mega corporation to publish statistics about its global plastic pollution. However, this warning was ignored. In January of 2023, the coalition filed a lawsuit against Danone over its failure to comply with French due dilige

Founded in 1919, the French company Danone includes brands Evian, Activia, Actimel, Volvic, Alpro, and more. In 2020, it sold products in 120 countries with global sales reaching 23.6 billion euros, making it one of the world’s top ten largest plastic packaging producers. Danone claims to be committed to producing products that preserve the planet’s resources whilst also growing its business. This article will examine how committed Danone really is to reducing its plastic foo

For years, companies making misleading environmental claims faced little more than bad press. A campaign group would raise the alarm, a brand would issue a careful non-apology, and the cycle would begin again. In 2025, that changed. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 came fully into force on 6 April 2025, giving the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) the power to impose fines of up to 10% of a company's global annual turnover for misleading environme