Without immediate and sustained new commitments to make packaging recyclable, reusable, or compostable, and reduce overall plastic use, annual flows of plastics to land, air, and water could more than double to 280 million metric tons per year by 2040. The authoritative study Breaking the Plastic Wave 2025, by Pew Charitable Trusts (“Pew Report”), concludes that half of the annual 130 million metrics tons of plastic pollution consists of packaging.[1]

Improved recycling coupled with reductions in use, materials redesign, and substitution could reduce plastic pollution from packaging by 97% by 2040, according to the Pew Report, with two-thirds of the reduction coming from innovative reuse applications.[2] Many governments and major brands have committed significant cuts in the use of virgin and single-use plastics.[3]

The growing plastic pollution crisis poses increasing risk to Lowe’s. Corporations could face an annual financial risk of approximately $100 billion should governments require them to cover the waste management costs of the packaging they produce, a policy that is increasingly being enacted around the globe.[4] Lowe’s sells many products packaged in polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Vinyl chloride, a chemical used to make PVC plastic, is a known carcinogen associated with liver, brain and lung cancers. PVC is not collected in curbside recycling programs and ends up in trash flows which are often incinerated, forming harmful dioxin emissions. The company has phased out most of the PVC packaging for its own private label products but has not set goals to reduce sales of other branded PVC packaging.

The company has taken initial steps to deal with plastic pollution by committing to making its private brand plastic packaging recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2030. However, it has many suppliers who have not made such a commitment. Further, it has not disclosed its total plastic packaging footprint or set a goal for overall reduction of plastic packaging. Competitors Walmart and Target have disclosed their plastic usage and set plastics reduction goals. The Company does not state the amount of plastic packaging that is designed for recycling. Walmart states that 80% of its plastic packaging is designed for recycling.[5] Lowe’s is also notably absent from participation in the largest pre-competitive corporate initiative to address plastic pollution, the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment.[6]

Reducing the Company’s overall plastic packaging and disclosing its plastic footprint are necessary steps to combat the plastic pollution crisis. Our Company is overdue to act on this important issue.

[1] https://www.pew.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/2025/12/breaking-the-plastic-wave-2025

[2] https://www.pew.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/2025/12/breaking-the-plastic-wave-2025

[3] https://gc-data.emf.org/; https://www.asyousow.org/press-releases/2021/10/6/walmart-commits-plastic-reduction-goal

[4] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/canada-bans-single-use-plastics; https://www.packworld.com/news/sustainability/article/22419036/four-states-enact-packaging-epr-laws; https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/plastics/single-use-plastics_en

[5] https://corporate.walmart.com/content/dam/corporate/documents/esgreport/2025/FY2025-Walmart-ESG-Report.pdf

[6]https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/global-commitment/overview