Colruyt, Coca-Cola and Alma in top 5 biggest polluters of Ostend beach

Our 2024 brand audit in Brussels, the third one we did, showed us that the same three companies are the biggest polluters of the Brussels canal over and over again. But would we end up with the same result doing a brand audit elsewhere? That’s why, together with Fair Resource Foundation and Proper Strand Lopers, we did another brand audit on the beach of Ostend, on a smaller scale than the ones in Brussels. And what was the result? The same companies are again the biggest polluters! Coca-cola, Colruyt and Alma (Cristaline), the top three biggest polluters in all our brand audits in Brussels, all appeared in the top 5 in Ostend. At the same time these companies keep on blaming consumers and refuse to recognize their responsability in the litter problem.

This summer, Proper Strand Lopers collected a record breaking amount of 4.000 liters of trash on the beach after a sunny day. Videos about the waste lying on the beach and in the sea went viral and a public debate emerged. Politicians were asked an opinion about the incident, a consensus seemed to be reached that ill-mannered citizens were to blame and on several occasions it even took a racist turn. Not a single time producers or supermarkets were mentionned, they seem to get a license to kill, a license to produce endless amounts of single-use packaging without ever being responsible for parts of this ending up in nature.

This is the reason why it’s so important to do brand audits: what are the types of waste we find and who are the producers. Brand Audits aim to identify major polluters, hold them accountable for their responsibility in the litter problem, and drive behavioral change within these companies. After doing 4 brand audits (3 in Brussels and 1 is Ostend) we can conclude that the same companies are always the biggest polluters. And many more brand audits are to come. How can these companies continu denying their responsability in the litter problem. They flood the market with more and more single-use packaging, they greenwash their way through life with misleading recycling claims on their products, they fight the introduction of the deposit system on cans and plastic bottles in Belgium, they blame consumers for littering and lobby on government level against quota for reusable packaging and other legislation that would protect nature. All this to keep on earning lots of money and probably because changing their habits would ask an effort.

The results of the Ostend Brand Audit

Contrary to our brand audits in the canal we found lots of cigarette butts on the beach, so many (417) that they made up 30% of all items found. Cigarette butts are still the most littered item in the world. Next were paper napkins (129), which easily fly away with some wind, plastic food packaging (106), plastic bottles (81) and in 5th place cans (63).

The Coca-cola Company reached first place with its brands Coca-cola, Fanta, Sprite, Aquarius, Chaudfontaine, Fuze Tea and Minute Maid. Almost all of the Coca-cola items were cans and plastic bottles. Unilever ended up in second place with packaging from their ice-cream brands Cornetto and Calippo. Lidl became third with its house brands, Alma became 4th with Cristaline water bottles and from Colruyt we found the brands Boni, Everyday and Carapils.

All items found are from one cleanup only at the end of a normal day on the beach. Almost all of the items are single-use and designed to be consumed outdoors. And many of the items contain misleading claims like the recycling claims on cans and plastic bottles but also the plastic bags with the inscription ‘Planet safe plastic’.

With Colruyt, Lidl, and Aldi there are three supermarkets in the top 6. These supermarkets have a double impact on litter. On one hand, with their own private brands, and on the other, with all the other products they sell in their stores. Supermarkets need to adjust their business models and move away from single-use packaging. Unfortunately they are not willing to start the transition to selling in bulk, eventhough this is totaly possible for so many products. At a supermarket like Colruyt we even see the opposite, they still continu to add extra packaging to create multipacks to oblige you to sell more. This way they create an immense mountain of unnecessary plastic waste. Last year we tried to do something about this with our End Double Packaging campaign.

What needs to be done?

Since private companies will not be the ones who will turn the tide on pollution the only option is the government, it is up to politicians to finally take decisive action towards structural solutions that have a real impact:

Introduce the physical deposit system of 25 cents on cans and plastic bottles.
Tighten the ban on plastic bags and close loopholes.
Ban single-use plastic and cardboard cups. Implement a system for reusable take-away cups.
Ban drink pouches like Caprisun.
Introduce deposits on all glass bottles, including foreign beer.

More broadly, the government must also:

Introduce a ban on misleading claims on products.
Ban advertising for products in single-use packaging.
Impose rising reuse quotas on producers and supermarkets.
Impose the supermarkets a transition to selling in bulk

And the business sector must also be held accountable:

They must disclose their total plastic and raw material footprint.
Reduce their use of plastics and raw materials.
Redesign packaging to make it reusable or eliminate plastic.
Adjust their business models and supply systems to shift to refillable and reusable options accessible to everyone.

Only by doing this will we achieve litter-free beaches, parks, waterways, forests, and oceans. We need to completely reverse today’s norm of a linear disposable society to a circular reuse society where every package has value and multiple lives. It is time to break the recycling myth.