The NGOs want a judge to force the French multinational of water bottles and yogurts Danone to free itself from its addiction to plastic that often fails in nature, in a summons consulted this Monday by AFP.
ClientEarth, Surfrider Foundation Europe and Zero Waste France demand that Danone be ordered to plan a “deplasticization trajectory”, or exit from plastic, considering its efforts insufficient.
The organizations launched in France this procedure on the basis of a law of 2017, on the “devoir de vigilance”, which obliges the large French companies to assure their respect for human rights fondamentaux et de l’environnement jusque chez leurs fournisseurs of the entire world.
Among the top 10 polluters
This “duty of vigilance” is increasingly used by associations to sue large groups and publicize controversial activities: TotalEnergies for an oil project in Uganda and Tanzania, EDF for a wind project in Mexico, Suez in 2021 for its water management in a Chilean city. , BNP Paribas for its financing of new oil and gas projects…
Danone had been warned for the first time at the end of September by the NGO coalition, at the same time as eight giants of the food industry and distribution (Auchan, Carrefour, Lactalis, etc.).
The coalition has only subpoenaed Danone, a later stage of the proceedings that paves the way for a hearing before the Paris court.
Danone opens the ball, say the NGOs, in particular because the group does not mention plastic pollution in its “monitoring plan” even though it is among the ten largest “plastic polluters” in the world, behind Coca Cola, Pepsico or Nestlé, according to the “Free yourself from plastic” movement.
Danone said it was “very surprised” by the approach, in a reaction to AFP. The company, which produces in particular eponymous yoghurts and bottled water (Volvic, Evian or Aqua in Indonesia), considers itself “long recognized as a pioneer in environmental risk management”.
The company intends to implement a “comprehensive framework of actions aimed at reducing the use of plastic, developing reuse, contributing to the strengthening of collection and recycling channels so that plastic remains out of nature and developing research on alternative materials.”
Eliminate plastic at the source
Danone (100,000 employees, more than 24,000 million euros of annual turnover) used about 751,000 tons of plastic in 2021, according to its latest annual report.
The group has set itself the goal of designing “100% recyclable, reusable or compostable” packaging by 2025.
NGOs criticize it for betting on recycling its containers instead of attacking the problem at source by reducing the use of plastic, in favor of returnable bottles, for example.
He also regrets that the group buys, for example for Blédina’s baby meals, vegetables that have grown under plastic greenhouses, covered with polypropylene.
More generally, the activists demand that the “extremely serious environmental damage” resulting from their activities cease, underlines Sébastien Mabile.
The objective, he adds, is “to put the issue of plastic on the agenda of companies at the same level as the issue of climate”, so that they reduce their plastic footprint in the same way as their carbon footprint.
The international community, under the aegis of the UN, has begun negotiations aimed at developing a treaty by 2024 to combat plastic pollution, very difficult discussions.
Danone affirms that it supports the establishment of a “global binding treaty on plastics on a global scale”, evoking a “systemic challenge impossible to solve by a single company”.
Source: BFM TV
