Soft-drink brand’s products make up nearly 12% of litter found, says Surfers Against Sewage

Coca-Cola bottles and cans are the most commonly found items of packaging pollution on British beaches, making up nearly 12% of all litter, research by Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) has found.

The results came from a series of 229 beach cleans organised by the anti-pollution campaigning group in April, which found close to 50,000 pieces of waste. About 20,000 of these carried identifiable brands, of which Coca-Cola was the leader, followed by Walkers crisps, Cadbury’s, McDonald’s and Nestlé.

When other brands owned by Coca-Cola were taken into account, the company’s share of the waste found rose to more than 15%. PepsiCo was the parent company to more than 10% of the branded waste found, followed by Cadbury’s owner, Mondelēz International, with about 7%. Identifiable packaging from McDonald’s accounted for 6% of the total with Nestlé just behind at 5.5%.