Transparent 2020

The report presents the inaugural results of the ReSource Footprint Tracker, analyzing the 2018 plastic footprints of Keurig Dr Pepper, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, Starbucks, and The Coca-Cola Company. Together, these companies reported 4.2 million metric tons of plastic. The analysis identifies a significant gap between corporate recycled content goals and actual use, which ranged from 0.4% to 11.3%. It highlights the United States as a primary area for increasing recycling due to high landfill rates (72%), and identifies China, India, and the Philippines as priority regions for mitigating plastic mismanagement. The document calls for collective action to scale recycled polypropylene (PP) and the adoption of reusable packaging systems to prevent 50 million metric tons of plastic from entering nature by 2030.

• In the pilot year, five ReSource Principal Members reported a combined total of 4.2 million metric tons of plastic based on 2018 data, with The Coca-Cola Company contributing the largest volume at 3 million metric tons.
• The use of sustainable inputs, including recycled and responsibly sourced biobased content, is low across the member companies, ranging from 0.4% to 11.3% of total plastic use.
• The United States is identified as the single largest opportunity for increasing recycling because it has the highest reported sales volumes for the members and a high landfill rate of 72%.
• Five priority countries—the United States, Mexico, China, India, and the Philippines—collectively account for 57.4% of the members' landfilled plastics and 58.7% of their estimated mismanaged plastics.
• Polypropylene (PP) represents a significant portion of the aggregate portfolio (8%) but has a very low recycling rate in the US, estimated at 0.6% in 2017 by the EPA.
• Small plastics (items smaller than 2x2 inches) are often excluded from recycling streams due to their size, and 69% of these items in the analysis are composed of polypropylene.
• The estimated aggregate recycling rate for the Principal Members' plastic footprint is 19%, which is higher than the global estimate of 14% reported by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
• China is the country with the highest volume of mismanaged plastics among the members, driven by high estimated mismanagement rates and high total tonnage.
• The report identifies a critical need for better national-level waste management data and international coordination to improve the precision of plastic waste system understanding.

APA

WWF International (2020). Transparent 2020. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/791/82eep0ff5_Transparent_2020.pdf

Chicago

WWF International. Transparent 2020. 2020. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/791/82eep0ff5_Transparent_2020.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF International |title=Transparent 2020 |date=June 2020 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/791/82eep0ff5_Transparent_2020.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfinternational2020transparent, author = {{WWF International}}, title = {{Transparent 2020}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2020}, month = jun, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/791/82eep0ff5_Transparent_2020.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }