Coca-Cola, Red Bull, and McDonald’s among UK’s ’12 most polluting brands’ responsible for 52% of all plastic packaging found in 2025, according to new report.
Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) has released its latest report into the brands most responsible for plastic pollution in the UK.
Based on what SAS calls its ‘largest ever citizen science dataset’, the 12 most polluting brands were found to be Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Cadbury, Red Bull, Walkers, Monster, Lucozade, Pepsi, Stella Artois, Haribo, Tesco, and Mars.
The report found that the 12 brands accounted for 17,331 pieces of pollution collectively.
The brand audit recorded the individual items found by more than 100,000 volunteer litter pickers over 2,500 community-led cleans.
Plastic was the most prevalent pollution type recorded, found in more than 85% of analysed cleans, and 60% of all plastic items recorded were single-use.
Coca-Cola was found to be the worst offending polluter after having been the most polluting brand for the past five years. Tesco was also amongst the 12 worst polluting brands for the fifth year running.
Commenting on the report, Rachel Yates, Plastic Pollution Campaigns Manager at Surfers Against Sewage, said: “The report shows the damning but predictable outcome of a system that allows the biggest brands to profit from packaging, primarily single-use plastic, while dodging any responsibility for the damage it causes.”
“Slapping a ‘recycle me’ label on a plastic wrapper and calling it a day is not a sustainability strategy. It’s a PR strategy.”
“The plastic crisis is not inevitable; it is a political choice. What is needed now is for leaders to show the courage to finally stand up against the polluters and act in the public interest.”