December 13th, 2018 (TORONTO) – For the holiday season, Greenpeace volunteers delivered gift boxes in person to the offices of Canada’s five top polluting corporations – Nestlé, Tim Hortons, PepsiCo., The Coca-Cola Company and McDonald’s. On behalf of the growing movement of people across Canada working to stop the plastic epidemic at the source, each company received its own plastic waste collected by volunteers on the streets of Toronto and during brand audits across Canada.
“The gifts we delivered today are symbolic. It’s only a fraction of what these companies are giving our planet : billions of single-use, throwaway plastic that will pollute our environment for generations to come. Plastic pollution is a global crisis and relying on recycling won’t cut it. Our systems cannot contend with the massive number of throwaway plastic items that are produced every day in Canada and around the world,” said Rommel Bellosillo, a Greenpeace volunteer who was part of the team who delivered the gift boxes this morning.
In Canada, these top five polluting corporations account for 46% of the identifiable branded plastic trash that was collected during brand audits across the country. On clean-up day, volunteer auditors sorted trash collected by type, brand and company. The goal was to help identify the major corporate contributors to the plastic waste polluting our green spaces and communities.
“This holiday season, the best gift the top five plastic polluters could give to their customers and the planet would be to commit to stop producing single-use plastic. They need to be part of the solution by offering their customers reusable and other more sustainable packaging,” added Bellosillo.
Greenpeace has been calling on plastic producing corporations and distributors to commit to phase out single-use plastics and invest in new delivery models based on reuse and refill systems. Greenpeace is also urging the Canadian government to hold corporations accountable for the environmental and social impacts of their products as well as legislate binding plastic reduction targets, including a ban on single-use plastics.
“We’ve made our deliveries to Canada’s top five Plastic Polluters, and now we are counting on them to stop producing single-use plastics,” added Dominique Bruce, Toronto Volunteer.
“Nestle, Pepsi Co., Tim Hortons and McDonald’s, all accepted our gifts and letters addressed to their CEOs, although we were very disappointed that The Coca-Cola company wouldn’t even let us through their doors,” said Aspa Tzaras, Greenpeace Canada Local Group Coordinator.
Worldwide the production of throwaway plastic is predicted to quadruple by 2050. Currently only 10 to 12% of the plastic produced yearly in Canada is recycled.
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For more information:
Marie Moucarry, Communications officer, Greenpeace Canada
+1 (438) 993-6127, [email protected]
Discussion
Tim Horton’s is responsible for the most pollution in Canada. Most stores don’t offer you a china cup, plate and bowl. They make zero effort to separate paper and plastic from garbage. All stores have take out windows so people can sit in running cars. Even McD makes a little effort. I like drinking coffee but I would be happy if Tim’s was banned because of what’s above. Wasaga Beach probably doesn’t have the power to ban Tim’s but surely it could fine the various coffee shops for not separating paper from landfill. Bring your own cup to fast food restaurants or even better, stop going to Tim’s. It’s a disgraceful company.