Plastic Soup Foundation
  • The issue
      • Plastic Soup
      • What is plastic?
      • Plastic in the environment
      • Harm to animals
      • Health effects
      • Regulations
      • Bogus solutions
      • Responsibilities
      • Sustainable development
      • Facts & Figures
  • What we do
      • Health
      • Microplastics
      • Education
      • Plastic Waste
  • What you can do
      • As a consumer
      • As an organization
      • As a school
  • Solutions
  • News
  • Donate
  • EN
  • NL
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
You are here: News Danone hauled up before the French court for excessive use of plastic

Danone hauled up before the French court for excessive use of plastic

24 January 2023

Danone, one of the largest food producers in the world, has been charged in France for the lack of having a serious plan of action to reduce its plastic footprint. According to the plaintiff, three NGOs, this type of plan is obligatory under French law.

With an annual turnover of more than EUR 24 billion, Danone sells dairy products and water in 120 countries. They are largely on sale in single-use plastic packaging that is thrown away after use. Some of that packaging enters the environment.

DANONE AMONG THE WORLD’S BIGGEST POLLUTERS

Year after year, counts of brands in clean-up activities show that Danone is one of the biggest polluters in the world. A multinational like this should have a policy that focuses on using less plastic. The opposite appears to be the case with Danone as it uses more and more plastic every year. In 2020 it was 716,000 tonnes, and by 2021 this had jumped up to 750,000 tonnes of plastic.

CIRCULARITY IS JUST A FRONT

Danone explains its plastic policy on its websites. The company is striving to make packaging ‘circular’. In other words, all packaging should be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. Further, it is striving for a higher percentage of recycled plastic in the packaging. These measures, mostly targeted at optimising recycling, is not reducing the risk of plastic ending up in the environment. And this is not the only problem by far.

‘DANONE MUST TAKE THE PLASTIC POLICY SERIOUSLY’

Apart from companies like Coca-Cola and Unilever, Danone is one of the biggest causers of the plastic soup. According to the plaintiff, the multinational completely failed to do what it was supposed to do under French law which are to:

  • analyse the impact of its plastic usage on the environment, climate, health, and human rights throughout the chain, that is to say from the use of the raw materials up to and including the waste phase; and,
  • estimate its own plastic footprint, not only in terms of the plastic used for all packaging, but also for things like transport and storage.

The plaintiff – ClientEarth, Surfrider and Zero Waste France – believe that Danone should issue a ‘deplastification plan’. In the plan, the company should define targets for how and when the assessed risks will be dealt with. It should then comply with that plan.

PREVIOUS COMPLAINTS AGAINST AHOLD DELHAIZE

In 2021, ClientEarth and Plastic Soup Foundation submitted a complaint to the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets against Ahold Delhaize for breaching the clauses of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) by insufficiently reporting about the consequences of plastic on the environment and the associated financial consequences.

The complaint against Danone fits in the trend to address companies directly for the lack of action plans to drastically reduce their plastic usage. As a large listed company, Ahold Delhaize too needs to show the impact of the plastic packaging that it uses on the environment. The difference is that the AFM discusses, or has discussed, the charge with Ahold Delhaize behind closed doors, while the French court not only needs to make the verdict public, but can also oblige Danone to comply with the law.

You may also be interested in:

Supermarket group faces challenge over plastic failings

Ahold Delhaize’s plastic policy has improved but still falls short

Search

Categories

  • Beat the microbead (16)
  • Solutions (11)
  • Don't use balloons (3)
  • Gezondheidseffecten (56)
  • Animal cruelty (13)
  • Job openings (1)
  • Microbeads (27)
  • sponsoring campaign (1)
  • Ocean Clean Wash (12)
  • Sponsor actions (3)
  • Plastic Urban Mining (4)
  • About us (1)
  • My little plastic footprint (5)
  • Blogs (16)
  • Synthetic fibers (19)
  • Plastic Soup Awards (3)
  • actions frontpage (1)
  • Political plume (3)
  • Pressreleases (2)
  • nurdles (5)
  • Junior (1)
  • Microplastics in cosmetics (1)
  • News (526)
  • What can you do? (13)
  • No category (1)
  • Health Files (38)
  • Clean rivers (24)
  • Plastic soupermarket (2)
  • Trash hunters (49)
  • What is plastic soup? (12)
  • What to do with plastic waste? (12)
  • Types of plastic (3)
  • Press releases (16)

Subscribe to our newsletter

and stay informed about our activities!
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Donate now and contribute

I'll donate € 5I'll donate € 10I'll donate € 15Other amount

More news

A POISON LIKE NO OTHER

Onderzoeksjournalist Matt Simon windt er geen doekjes om. In zijn nieuwe boek stelt hij dat we met microplastics onze aarde én onszelf hebben vergiftigd.

Read more

Is sunlight causing the plastic soup to disappear?

Dutch researchers find a new explanation to the mystery of the disappeared plastic: sunlight clears away floating plastic.

Read more

Research intern: Biodegradability of viscose

We are looking for a Campaigner for our (Plastic) Fashion campaign. You will strengthen the campaign team that works on the problems related to microplastics and what plastic is doing to our health.

Read more

PLASTIC SOUP FOUNDATION DISAGREES WITH EUROPEAN CONSUMERS’ ASSOCIATIONS

In November 2022 the Dutch Consumers’ Association Consumentenbond published the results of a report which made us raise our eyebrows.

Read more

About us

  • Frontrunners
  • Mission & Vision
  • Our People
  • Working with Us
  • Annual Reports
  • Inquiries Press
  • Newsletter

Our approach

  • Plastic Soup Angels
  • Funds & Partners
  • Ambassadors
  • Plastic Soup Awards
  • Plastic Soup Atlas
  • Facts & Figures
DONATE
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • LinkedIn

  • YouTube

  • Contact

 

© Copyright - Plastic Soup Foundation
  • Contact
  • Privacy policy
  • GDPR Consent Settings
Research intern: Biodegradability of viscoseIs sunlight causing the plastic soup to disappear?
Scroll to top

GDPR settings

This website uses some cookies which are placed on your device. Your web browser stores these cookies when you visit our Website: www.plasticsoupfoundation.org. These cookies will be retrieved when you visit or use our Website again. This allows us to recognise you as a previous visitor/user.

x
Settings

Your privacy and this website...

This website uses some cookies which are placed on your device. Your web browser stores these cookies when you visit our Website: www.plasticsoupfoundation.org. These cookies will be retrieved when you visit or use our Website again. This allows us to recognise you as a previous visitor/user.

Functional technology enables a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in. No personalised information is collected.

See details

This consent is used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers.

See details

This consent helps website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting.

See details
Forget my settings Settings have been forgotten