The Best Plastic Monsters from Around the World

Something amazing happened this past month. Plastic monsters came to life around the world, rising up from dirty landfills, climbing over piles of trash, and even swimming up and out of seas, lakes, and rivers to make long and sometimes arduous journeys back home to their source.

Greenpeace activists delivered a 20 meter long plastic monster covered in Nestlé branded plastic packaging to the company‘s global headquarters in Switzerland on April 16, 2019.

So where did the plastic monsters originate? Nestlé. Nestlé and other multinational corporations produce massive amounts of single-use plastic packaging. As we all know, plastic is devastating communities, polluting natural environments, and threatening marine creatures around the world. Last year, Nestlé used 1.7 million tonnes of plastic packaging. And while their latest move is to try to argue the exact numbers, the simple fact remains that Nestlé produced more plastic last year than the year before.

This has got to stop. At a time when companies need to be focused on urgently reducing their overall plastic production, Nestlé continues to increase it, distracting concerned customers and the media with more talk of recycling and small reuse initiatives that are nowhere near the scale needed to actually make a dent in the obscene amount of plastic they are pumping out into the world. In fact, Nestlé was named one of the worst plastic polluters after cleanups and brand audits of plastic waste around the world in 2018.

So the plastic monsters woke up and decided to return home to Nestlé. A huge plastic monster, 65 feet long and covered in Nestlé’s plastic waste, appeared in the Netherlands in late March. From there it journeyed by boat toward Switzerland, stopping by a few cities as it traveled up the Rhine River through Germany and France.

On April 10, 2019, activists from the Break Free From Plastic movement delivered a plastic monster serpent along with an “invoice from the Filipino people” to Nestlé headquarters in the Philippines. The invoice outlined the costs of Nestlé’s single-use plastic packaging from impacts to human health, environmental pollution, death of wildlife, damage to livelihoods and businesses, greenhouse gas emissions, and waste management challenges.

Activists from the #BreakFreeFromPlastic movement deliver a serpent-like plastic monster to Nestlé’s Philippine headquarters in Makati City.

The next day, April 11, 2019, Greenpeace activists crashed the Nestlé AGM to demand that Nestlé end its reliance on single-use plastic, and invest immediately in alternative delivery systems based on refill and reuse.

And on April 16, 2019, plastic monsters showed up with Greenpeace activists at Nestlé offices all around the world! From Kenya, Cameroon, Italy, Switzerland, Slovenia, Poland, the USA, and Canada, the plastic monsters flocked home to Nestlé.

But the plastic monsters weren’t done yet! On April 22, 2019, two more plastic monsters found their way home to Nestlé offices in Mexico and Malaysia.

Also on April 22, 2019, Greenpeace activists arrived at Nestle’s corporate headquarters in Mexico City with a monstrous bird that feeds its young with plastic waste.

Greenpeace activists showed up at the Nestlé office in Malaysia on Earth Day to tell the company to stop single-use plastic.

In addition, people from all over the world took to social media to share their monsters with Nestlé. Here are a few of our favorites from supporters and allies. 

These plastic monsters may not be real, but they represent a very serious crisis: the plastic monster is a reality in many communities, especially in Southeast Asia, which are being overwhelmed by the world’s plastic waste. You can help: Tell Nestlé to stop polluting our planet with single-use plastics, and share our video. You can even make your own plastic monster to let Nestlé and other big companies know it’s time to #BreakFreeFromPlastic!