Greenpeace blocks Coca-Cola UK entrance with sculpture featuring seagull

The environment activists called for the company to do more to help prevent plastic pollution

Environment activists blocked the entrance to Coca-Cola's UK headquarters in London with a 2.5-tonne sculpture featuring a seagull regurgitating plastic and called for the company to do more to help prevent plastic pollution.

The Greenpeace activists said the sculpture called 'Plasticide', which depicts an idyllic family beach scene interrupted by birds choking on plastic, was intended to highlight what it claimed were failings by the company, CNN reported.

In a report released on Monday, Greenpeace claimed that Coca-Cola -- the world's largest soft drinks company -- sells more than 100 billion plastic bottles every year.

Single-use plastic bottles make up nearly 60 per cent of the packaging produced by the company globally, it said.

 

"We were trying to uncover for the first time the true size of Coca-Cola's plastic footprint," Louisa Casson, oceans campaigner for Greenpeace, told CNN.

"And we are actually seeing them going backwards. Rather than investing more in refillable and reusables, they've increased their use of single-use plastic bottles over the last decade."

Coca-Cola said it was "disappointed" by the action by Greenpeace, and said it would publish a new "sustainable packaging strategy" later this year.

The sculpture was designed by underwater sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor.

At 2.5 tonnes, it is "pretty heavy", Casson said, adding "but ten times that weight of plastic is flowing into the oceans every single minute."