Coca-Cola is "in danger of being left behind" as more companies make the move away from plastic, Christian development agency Tearfund has warned.

It has urged the soft drinks giant to ditch single-use plastic after it topped a list of worst corporate plastic polluters for the second year in a row.

The list was published on Wednesday by the Break Free From Plastic movement and is based on the number of items collected by more than 70,000 volunteers during community clean-ups across 51 countries. 

According to its report, a total of 11,732 branded Coca Cola plastics were recorded in 37 countries across four continents, more than the next three top global polluters combined.

Coca-Cola was followed in the top 10 by Nestl​é,​ PepsiCo, Mondelēz International - owners of Cadbury and Philadelphia cream cheese, Unilever, Mars, Procter and Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Marlboro cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris, and Perfetti Van Melle, makers of Mentos and Chupa Chups.

READ MORE: The problem with plastic and how we can fix it

Von Hernandez, global coordinator of Break Free From Plastic, said that recycling alone could not address the problem of plastic waste.  

"This report provides more evidence that corporations urgently need to do more to address the plastic pollution crisis they've created," he said.

"Their continued reliance on single-use plastic packaging translates to pumping more throwaway plastic into the environment.

"Recycling is not going to solve this problem.

"Break Free From Plastic's nearly 1,800 member organizations are calling on corporations to urgently reduce their production of single-use plastic and find innovative solutions focused on alternative delivery systems that do not create pollution." 

Dr Ruth Valerio, Director of Global Influencing and Advocacy at Tearfund, which has been campaigning for an end to single-use plastic, said that Coca-Cola should be leading the way in embracing alternatives. 

"The news that Coca-Cola is yet again the world's top plastic polluter shows that the company is not getting on top of the problems its products cause," she said.

"It cannot be right for a hugely powerful and wealthy company to make profits from selling single-use plastic in countries where people in poverty have no choice but to dump or burn it, causing floods and creating toxic fumes leading to illness and disease.

"With some large consumer goods companies signalling their intention to move away from single-use plastic, Coca-Cola is in danger of being left behind, when it should be leading."