FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT: Stefanie Spear, sspear@asyousow.org, 216-387-1609

BERKELEY, CA—APRIL 26, 2023—This month, Kraft Heinz and Church & Dwight have announced new goals to cut the use of virgin plastic packaging. The announcements fulfill commitments made to As You Sow by each company and are in accordance with the withdrawal of As You Sow’s 2022 shareholder proposals at each company on plastic pollution.

Kraft Heinz has committed to cut virgin plastic use by 20% by 2030 over a 2021 baseline and Church & Dwight has committed to cut virgin plastic use by 30% by 2025 over a 2017 baseline.

Both companies' goals cannot be directly compared to one another due to different products, packaging, and market sizes of each company, though the goals do signal a positive trend among major consumer goods companies to cut the use of virgin plastic use. Kraft Heinz, Church & Dwight, and others have committed to achieving these goals through material elimination or reduction, replacement with recycled plastic, use of fiber or biobased alternatives, transitions into refillable and reusable packaging, or a combination.

Five other large companies — Keurig Dr Pepper, Mondelez International, PepsiCo, Target Corp., and Walmart — have recently agreed to virgin plastic reductions after the filing of shareholder proposals by As You Sow. Target and Keurig Dr. Pepper agreed to reduce virgin plastic in brand packaging by 20%, Walmart agreed to a 15% cut, and Mondelez agreed to cut 5% — all by 2025. PepsiCo agreed to a 20% cut by 2030.

“Setting a virgin plastic use reduction goal has become a common practice among leading companies,” said Kelly McBee, circular economy sr. coordinator at As You Sow. “We hope to see these companies pair their new goals with commitments to financially invest in the collection and recycling of their packaging to ensure it never becomes waste.”  

As You Sow has active plastic packaging resolutions with Amazon.com and Kroger, urging the companies to match the efforts of their peers and cut the use of plastic. As You Sow filed similar resolutions with both companies last season, though neither company has taken significant action to cut plastic use despite support from nearly 50% of investors at Amazon.com and nearly 40% of investors at Kroger. Both resolutions will go to a vote before shareholders over the next couple of months.

As You Sow’s efforts have been catalyzed by a 2020 landmark study by Pew Charitable Trusts, “Breaking the Plastic Wave,” which calls for immediate and sustained new commitments throughout the plastics value chain, including actions by brand owners, consumer goods companies, and retailers to reduce at least one-third of plastic demand through elimination, reuse, and new delivery models.

The largest cut in overall plastic use to date by a major consumer goods company was a 2019 commitment by Unilever to cut virgin plastic use by 50%, including a total elimination of 100,000 tons of plastic packaging by 2025.

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As You Sow is the nation’s leading shareholder advocacy nonprofit, with a 30-year track record promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility and advancing values-aligned investing. Its issue areas include climate change, ocean plastics, pesticides, racial justice, workplace diversity, and executive compensation. Click here for As You Sow’s shareholder resolution tracker.