That ‘ethical’ smoothie you love is made by a giant plastic polluter
Innocent markets itself as creating healthy products as sustainably as possible. In reality, it is owned by the world’s largest plastic polluter.
The port of Rotterdam is one of the few places in Europe where the true scale of the petrochemical industry can be glimpsed. Until the mid-2000s, the continent’s largest industrial area handled more cargo per year than anywhere else in the world, the largest component of which is a hundred million tonnes of crude oil.
For miles the road through the Europoort is flanked by a forest of distillation columns, flames belching in the distance, storage tanks the size of tower blocks standing in row upon row. And there at the end, a gate topped by a cheery pink hallo. Beyond it, in stark relief against the grey expanse of tarmac, sea and sky, a building clad with bright rectangles of green, pink and yellow.
New Statesman
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