Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestle have been identified by campaigners as being among a handful of businesses that are contributing most to pollution.

After sifting through nearly 200,000 pieces of plastic collected from shores around the world, their packaging was the most frequent identified by volunteers wh conducted clean-up operations from the UK to Vietnam.

In Europe, these three companies made up nearly half of this “brand audit” of plastic, according the Break Free From Plastic, a global movement consisting of nearly 1,300 groups from across the world including Greenpeace, whose member organisations carried out the work.

As 69 MEPs on the European environment committee prepare to vote on new rules to cut back on single-use plastics, a 250,000-strong petition was delivered to the European Parliament calling for producers to pay for their pollution.

Their case was bolstered by the audit, which aimed to give some sense of the plastic footprints left by these companies.

“These brand audits offer undeniable proof of the role that corporations play in perpetuating the global plastic pollution crisis,” said Von Hernandez, global coordinator of Break Free From Plastic. “By continuing to churn out problematic and unrecyclable throwaway plastic packaging for their products, these companies are guilty of trashing the planet on a massive scale.

“It’s time they own up and stop shifting the blame to citizens for their wasteful and polluting products.”

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A father and son on a makeshift boat made from styrofoam paddle through a garbage filled river as they collect plastic bottles that they can sell in junkshops in Manila. The father and son team earn some three US dollars a day retrieving recyclables from the river. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A composite image of items found on the shore of the Thames Estuary in Rainham, Kent. Tons of plastic and other waste lines areas along the Thames Estuary shoreline, an important feeding ground for wading birds and other marine wildlife. Getty Images Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Children collect plastic water bottles among the garbage washed ashore at the Manila Bay. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, at current rates of pollution, there will likely be more plastic in the sea than fish by 2050. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Plastics and other detritus line the shore of the Thames Estuary. In December 2017 Britain joined the other 193 UN countries and signed up to a resolution to help eliminate marine litter and microplastics in the sea. It is estimated that about eight million metric tons of plastic find their way into the world's oceans every year. Once in the Ocean plastic can take hundreds of years to degrade, all the while breaking down into smaller and smaller 'microplastics,' which can be consumed by marine animals, and find their way into the human food chain. Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A dump site in Manila in 2013. The Philippines financial capital banned disposable plastic shopping bags and styrofoam food containers, as part of escalating efforts across the nation's capital to curb rubbish that exacerbates deadly flooding. AFP/Getty Images Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Children swims in the sea full of garbage in North Jakarta, Indonesia. Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures An Indian woman holds a jar filled with Yamuna river water polluted with froth and toxic foam to be used for rituals at the river bank in New Delhi, India. The Yamuna River, like all other holy rivers in India, has been massively polluted for decades now. The river that originates in a glacier in the pristine and unpolluted Himalayas, and flows through Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh before merging with the Ganges River in Allahabad, once used to be the lifeline of the Indian capital. Currently, it is no more than a large, open sewer that is choking with industrial and domestic discharge that includes plastic, flowers and debris and has virtually no aquatic life. EPA Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Plastic waste is washed up on South Troon beach in Scotland. Recent reports by scientists have confirmed, plastics dumped in the world oceans are reaching a dangerous level with micro plastic particles now being found inside filter feeding animals and amongst sand grains on our beaches. Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Children collect plastic to be sold and recycled, in a polluted river in suburban Manila. The city's trash disposal agency traps solid waste floating down waterways that was thrown into the water by residents of slums along riverbanks upstream. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures View of the Carpayo Beach in La Punta, Callao, some 15 km of Lima. In 2013, the NGO VIDA labeled the Carpayo Beach as the most polluted in the country - 40 tons of trash on each 500m2. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Trash from Kamilo Beach in Hawaii. Gabriella Levine/Flickr Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A scavenger collects plastic cups for recycling in a river covered with rubbish near Pluit dam in Jakarta. Reuters Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Rubbish fills Omoa beach in Honduras. Floating masses of garbage offshore from some of the Caribbean's pristine beaches are testimony to a vast and growing problem of plastic pollution heedlessly dumped in our oceans, locals, activists and experts say. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A man climbs down to a garbage filled river in Manila. Plastic rubbish will outweigh fish in the oceans by 2050 unless the world takes drastic action to recycle the material, a report warned in 2016. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Garbage on East Beach, Henderson Island (Pitcairn Islands), in the south Pacific Ocean. The uninhabited island has been found to have the world's highest density of waste plastic, with more than 3,500 additional pieces of litter washing ashore daily at just one of its beaches. EPA

Of all the brands identified, the teams found that Coca-Cola was the top polluter, with Coke-branded plastic found in 40 of the 42 participating countries.

Responding to these findings, a spokesperson from Coca Cola said they shared the campaigners’ goal of eliminating plastic waste from the ocean “and are prepared to do our part to help address this important challenge”.

They said the company was aiming to help collect and recycle a bottle or can for every one we sell, and aim for 50 per cent recycled content, by 2030.

Wave of floating plastic in Dominican Republic shows extent of ocean pollution

“We can’t do this alone, and it will take some time to accomplish. but we recognise the need for action and the importance of creating a world without waste,” they said.

A Nestle spokesperson said: “Our vision is that none of our product packaging, including plastics, should end up in landfill or as litter, including in seas, oceans and waterways. In order to achieve this, we have set ourselves the ambition of ensuring 100 per cent of our packaging is reusable or recyclable by 2025.”

PepsiCo said they had also committed to achieving “100 per cent recyclable, compostable or biodegradable packaging by 2025”.

The brand audit provides the best picture to date of the brand causing most pollution, and the Break Free From Plastic movement hopes to encourage politicians and businesses to pay attention to these plastic footprints.

“Plastic pollution needs to be more than just an image problem for brands. More than 250,000 have signed our petition to the European Parliament environment committee to hold companies responsible for the plastics they produce,” said Eoin Dubsky, campaigner at SumOfUs, who started the petition.