However, this study suggests that a group of petrochemical companies are actually the source of the crisis - one that has devastating ecological, social and environmental consequences.Īfter Exxon Mobil, Dow and Sinpoec, the study says these firms are the biggest producers of single-use plastic: Indorama Ventures, Saudi Aramco, PetroChina, LyondellBasell, Reliance Industries, Braskem, Alpek SA de CV, Borealis, Lotte Chemical, INEOS, Total, Jiangsu Hailun Petrochemical, Far Eastern New Century, Formosa Plastics Corporation, China Energy Investment Group, PTT and China Resources.ĬNBC contacted the top companies identified as being responsible for the plastic waste crisis and the leading banks enabling waste generation. 'Break the pattern of inaction'Įnvironmental activists have previously laid the blame for plastic waste at companies such as PespiCo and Coca-Cola. "As awareness of the toll of plastic pollution has grown, the petrochemical industry has told us it's our own fault and has directed attention toward behavior change from end-users of these products, rather than addressing the problem at its source," he added. Vice President Al Gore said in a statement accompanying the research. "The trajectories of the climate crisis and the plastic waste crisis are strikingly similar and increasingly intertwined," former U.S. For India, that figure is as low as 4 kg per year, the study said. were found to generate 44 kg of single-use plastic waste per person.īy contrast, the average person in China - the largest producer of single-use plastic by volume - produces 18 kg of single-use plastic per year. Australia and the U.S., respectively, were found to produce the greatest amounts of "throwaway" plastics, at more than 50 kg per person per year in 2019. The research also assessed the countries that are the biggest contributors to the single-use plastic crisis, based on per head of population. A total of $30 billion of loans from these institutions, including Barclays, HSBC and Bank of America, has supported the sector since 2011. Nearly 60% of the commercial finance funding the plastic waste crisis comes from just 20 global banks, the study said. The study says 100 companies are the source of 90% of global single-use plastic production. chemicals company Dow and China's Sinopec. energy giant ExxonMobil tops the list, contributing 5.9 million metric tons to global plastic waste, closely followed by U.S. The research was conducted by academics from the London School of Economics, the Stockholm Environment Institute, Wood Mackenzie, among others. The findings were published by the Minderoo Foundation, one of Asia's largest philanthropies. The study says 20 petrochemical companies are responsible for 55% of the world's single-use plastic waste. Made almost exclusively from fossil fuels, these "throwaway" plastics often end their short lifecycle polluting the oceans, being burned or dumped into landfills. Single-use plastics, such as bottles, bags and food packages, are the most commonly discarded type of plastic.