Resolved clauseShareholders request that the board of directors issue a report by December 2021 on plastic packaging, estimating the amount of plastics released to the environment by our use of plastic packaging, from the manufacture of plastic source materials, through disposal or recycling, and describing any company strategies or goals to reduce the use of plastic packaging to reduce these impacts.
Whereas clauseThe ocean plastics crisis continues unabated, fatally impacting more than 800 marine species, and causing up to USD2.5 trillion in damage annually to marine ecosystems. Toxins adhere to plastics consumed by marine species, which potentially transfer to human diets. There could be more plastic than fish by weight in oceans by 2050.
Recently, the Pew Charitable Trusts released a groundbreaking study, Breaking the Plastic Wave, which concluded that if all current industry and government commitments were met, ocean plastic deposition would be reduced by only 7%. Without immediate and sustained new commitments throughout the plastics value chain, annual flow of plastic into oceans could nearly triple in just twenty years.
Improved recycling will not be sufficient to stem the plastic tide, and must be coupled with upstream activities like reduction in demand, materials redesign, and substitution. "Brand owners, fast-moving consumer goods companies and retailers should lead the transition by committing to reduce at least one-third of plastic demand through elimination, reuse, and new delivery models," the report states, adding that reducing plastic production is the most attractive solution from environmental, economic, and social perspectives.
Food conglomerate Unilever has taken the most significant action by a major company to date, agreeing to cut plastic packaging use overall by 100,000 tons by 2025. PepsiCo has committed to substitute recycled content for 35% of virgin plastic use in its beverage division. Walmart has no goal to reduce use of plastic packaging.
Despite Walmart's goal to use entirely reusable, recyclable, or compostable packaging by 2025, the company uses 37% flexible packaging, which cannot be recycled. Flexible packaging represents 59% of all plastic production but an outsized 80% of plastic actually leaking into oceans. The company has failed to take substantive action on its promise to explore reusable packaging, with no reported reusables pilots in the U.S.
The company received a score of D+ in an As You Sow study ranking corporate leadership on plastic pollution. Walmart lags in its commitments - even well behind its subsidiary, ASDA - in making cuts to plastic packaging, increasing use of reusable packaging, and facilitating recyclability of its flexible packaging by 2025.
Supporting statementProponents note that the report should be prepared at reasonable cost, omitting confidential information, and include an assessment of the reputational, financial, and operational risks associated with continuing to use substantial amounts of plastic packaging while plastic pollution grows unabated. In the board's discretion, the report could also evaluate opportunities for dramatically reducing the amount of plastics used in our packaging through redesign or substitution.