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Artikel

9 Jan 2023

Autor:
ClientEarth

We're taking Danone to court over plastic pollution

In September 2022, we issued legal warnings to Danone and a number of other companies including Nestlé France and McDonald's France, for inadequately addressing the risks related to the plastic pollution they produce. Danone responded, but it wasn't good enough. So we're going to court.

Why are we targeting Danone?

We think Danone is burying its head in the sand when it comes to plastics.

In 2021, the company used more than 750,000 tonnes of plastic – the equivalent of almost 75 Eiffel Towers – even more than it did in 2020.

As a producer and supplier of food products generally packed in single-use plastic, it has never adopted adequate measures to address the harm related to its use of plastics.

That’s despite the fact that it’s amongst the top 10 biggest plastic producers worldwide ...

What is Danone legally obliged to do?

The French Duty of Vigilance lawis a groundbreaking new law that was adopted in response to the Rana Plaza tragedy - the collapse of a textile factory in Bangladesh in 2013 which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,000 people. The discovery of labels from famous clothing brands in the rubble moved public opinion. Until the law was adopted, companies were not held responsible for what happens in their value chain ...

Logically, given the scale of the plastics crisis, we believe this law should oblige companies to provide satisfactory responses on the subject. But Danone’s ‘vigilance plan’ remains completely silent on plastics.

The court case has now been filed in the Paris Tribunal Judiciaire – the equivalent of the UK High Court. The next steps in the court case will be determined by a judge in an initial hearing in the next few months.

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