A NEW STUDY published in Science Advances found more than half of branded plastic pollution found in the environment was linked to 56 companies.
CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, co-authored the paper along with 12 other international organisations, providing the first-ever quantification of products from global plastic producers in the environment through audit events.
Researchers used data from a 5-year (2018-2022) programme, spanning 84 countries, to identify brands found as plastic waste in the environment. Dr Kathy Willis, postdoctoral researcher at CSIRO, said the research provides insights into what branded items contribute to plastic waste.
“We found 13 companies have an individual contribution of 1 per cent or more of the total branded plastic observed in all 1576 audit events,” Dr Willis said.
