Saturday, July 31, 2010

Coca-Cola cans take tip mark for majority dirty code in Britain

It is sold in more than 200 countries worldwide and is the biggest-selling soft drink in history.

But not only has Coca-Cola become a byword for American world domination, it is now the most littered brand in the UK, according to figures released today.

A survey of litter dropped across the country found the firm"s bottles and cans accounted for a total of 4.9 per cent of discarded trash.

Top of the drops

Empty packets of Walkers Crisps made up for 4.1 per cent of litter whilst 3.4 per cent was McDonald"s packaging.

The figures were compiled after an analysis of 7,796 items of litter picked up by 39 volunteers between September and October last year in mainly rural parts of England, Wales and Scotland.

The study - by anti-litter campaigner Tim Barnes of the campaigning group Litter Heroes - concluded that around 70 per cent of the nation"s litter comes from the "food on the go" industry.

Drinks cans and bottles accounted for 34 per cent of litter, followed by confectionery wrappers at 16 per cent. Fast food packaging made up for 13 per cent whilst 8 per cent of the litter was crisp packets.

"Clearly, the people who drop litter are directly responsible for the problem, but manufacturers must accept some responsibility too," said Mr Barnes.

"Littering of these brands is degrading the environment on a national scale. The survey shows that almost everywhere you go in the UK you are likely to see a littered Coke can or a Walkers Crisp packet.

"It is time these companies took much greater responsibility for preventing littering of their products and for the cost of the clean-up."

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