Key Themes at Plastic Treaty Talks Align with As You Sow’s Effort to Hold Companies Accountable on Plastic Pollution
Statement by Conrad MacKerron, Senior Vice President of As You Sow
As global plastics treaty talks wind down in Ottawa, I was pleased to see key topics like petrochemical production caps and extended producer responsibility front and center in discussions. Those have been the ongoing focus of As You Sow’s plastic pollution conversation with major producers and their customers for several years.
However, it is disappointing that production caps were not approved to be the focus of upcoming informal ad hoc intersessional talks ahead of the next negotiating session in December in South Korea. Whether in the form of production caps mandated by governments or reduced demand due to plastics users moving to other materials, the petrochemical industry must prepare for a future of reduced production of resins, especially those used for single-use plastic applications.
Global community leaders like the OECD and UNEP reinforce that reduced production is critical. More importantly, corporate giants who use huge amounts of plastic, like Coca-Cola Co., Nestle, PepsiCo, and Unilever, have stated that the top priority of a global plastics treaty should be the “reduction of plastic production and use.”
Last year, As You Sow filed shareholder proposals with plastic resin makers Dow and ExxonMobil asking the companies to analyze the impact of a significant (one-third) reduction in demand for virgin plastic on their businesses. Thirty percent of Dow shareholders and 25% of ExxonMobil shareholders supported our request to the companies to prepare for reduced plastic production. Both companies, as well as Phillips 66 and Chevron, will face similar votes this year.
Negotiators also discussed whether to make extended producer responsibility (EPR) a global legally binding requirement. EPR requires producers of post-consumer packaging to pay fees for the collection and recycling of materials they place into commerce. EPR is crucial to raising sufficient funds to modernize outdated recycling infrastructure and significantly boost recycling rates. EPR is commonplace in scores of countries but only 4 U.S. states (Maine, California, Oregon, and Colorado) have laws requiring EPR for packaging.
An As You Sow proposal last year asked Constellation Brands to endorse EPR and make voluntary payments to support infrastructure until more U.S. state laws are passed received the support of 25% of shares voted. Hershey Co. and Conagra face similar proposals this year. At the talks, the petrochemical industry endorsed EPR for packaging, where consumer brands pay the fees. Resin producers should also be willing to step up and provide EPR funding, given the amount of funding needed (estimated by UNEP as $1.6 trillion by 2040).
A report released during the conference noted that Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Altria are among the top plastic polluters globally. As You Sow has been engaging both Coke and Pepsi for more than a decade on using higher levels of recycled content and, more recently, on reducing the use of plastic. In 2022, both companies made historic commitments to As You Sow to increase their use of refillable bottles and containers – a proven method to reduce single-use plastic waste. Coke agreed to deliver 25% of its beverages in refillables by 2030; Pepsi agreed to 20% by 2030. This year, we filed a shareholder proposal with tobacco maker Altria (Marlboro) to report on taking financial responsibility for the cleanup of cigarette butts, whose plastic filters are among the most littered items on earth.
As You Sow is proud to continue more than a decade of work to hold companies accountable to reduce plastic pollution by making packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable, by taking actions to ensure materials actually get recycled, to use higher levels of recycled content, to take financial responsibility for the costs of collection and recycling, and to use less plastic overall.
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As You Sow is the nation’s leading shareholder representative, 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.