Sustainable Packaging Policies for Plastics | Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility

<div class=”col-lg-9 content-page left-side”>
<section class=”section-a-single-resolutions resolutions-info top-content”>
<div class=”resolutions-contain”>
<div class=”top-content”>
<h4>Resolution Details</h4>
</div>
<div class=”bottom-content”>
<div class=”row-info”>
<strong>Company:</strong>
<p>Procter & Gamble Company</p>
</div>
<div class=”row-info”>
<strong>Year:</strong>
<p>2025 </p>
</div>
<div class=”row-info”>
<strong>Issue Area:</strong>
<p>Environment </p>
</div>

<div class=”row-info”>
<strong>Focus Area:</strong>
<p>Plastics Pollution, Recycling </p>
</div>
<div class=”row-info”>
<strong>Status:</strong>
<p>Filed</p>
</div>

</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>

<section class=”section-b-single-resolutions content-blocks”>
<div class=”top-content editor-block”>
<div class=”content-block”>
<div class=”main-content”>
<h2>Resolution Text</h2>
<p class=”Paragraph SCXW23827065 BCX0″><strong>WHEREAS: </strong>Without immediate and sustained new commitments throughout the plastics value chain, annual flows of plastics into oceans could nearly triple by 2040.1 The growing plastic pollution crisis poses increasing risks to Procter & Gamble. Corporations could face an annual financial risk of approximately $100 billion should governments require them to cover the waste management costs of packaging they produce.2 Governments around the world are increasingly enacting such policies, including five new state laws that impose fees on corporations for single-use plastic (SUP) packaging.3 The European Union has banned ten SUP pollutants and taxed some non-recycled plastic packaging.4 A French law requires 10% of packaging be reusable by 2027 and Portugal requires 30% reusable packaging by 2030.5 Additionally, consumer demand for sustainable packaging is increasing.6  </p>
<p class=”Paragraph SCXW23827065 BCX0″>Pew Charitable Trusts’ groundbreaking study, Breaking the Plastic Wave (“Pew Report”), concluded that improved recycling alone is insufficient to address plastic pollution—instead, recycling must be coupled with reductions in use, materials redesign, and substitution.7 The Pew Report finds that the greatest opportunity to reduce or eliminate plastic lies with flexible plastic packaging—thin, disposable plastic often used to package food, laundry, and beauty and home care products. This packaging is virtually unrecyclable in America. With innovation, redesign, and substitution, 26 million metric tons of flexibles can be avoided globally.8   </p>
<p class=”Paragraph SCXW23827065 BCX0″>The Pew Report finds that reducing plastic use is the most viable solution from environmental, economic, and social perspectives, yet broad corporate and stakeholder alignment on flexible packaging solutions is lacking.9 </p>
<p class=”Paragraph SCXW23827065 BCX0″>Despite its stated commitments to sustainable packaging, approximately 19% of P&G’s packaging remains in flexible packaging.10  In the absence of immediate action to eliminate flexibles by robustly engaging in research and expansion of reusable packaging, P&G will fail to meet its 2030 packaging goals. P&G lags in its goal to reduce virgin plastic by 50% by 2030, with total corporate virgin plastic use increasing 3% in 2020-2021.11 </p>
<p class=”Paragraph SCXW152747161 BCX0″>Our Company could avoid regulatory, environmental, and competitive risks by adopting a comprehensive approach to addressing flexible plastic packaging use at scale.  </p>
<p class=”Paragraph SCXW152747161 BCX0″><strong>BE IT RESOLVED: </strong> Shareholders request that the Board issue a report, at reasonable expense and excluding proprietary information, describing how P&G could address flexible plastic packaging in alignment with the findings of the Pew Report, or other authoritative sources, to reduce its contribution to plastic pollution.   </p>
<p class=”Paragraph SCXW152747161 BCX0″><strong>SUPPORTING STATEMENT: </strong>The report should, at Board discretion: </p>

<p class=”Paragraph SCXW152747161 BCX0″>Assess the reputational, financial, and operational risks associated with continuing to use non-recyclable plastic packaging while plastic pollution grows; </p>

<p class=”Paragraph SCXW152747161 BCX0″>Evaluate feasible actions to achieve fully recyclable packaging including elimination and accelerated research into innovative reusable substitution; and </p>

<p class=”Paragraph SCXW152747161 BCX0″>Describe opportunities to pre-competitively work with peers to research and develop reusable packaging as an alternative to single-use packaging. </p>

</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class=”middle-content editor-block”>
<div class=”content-block”>
<div class=”main-content”>

</div>
</div>
</div>

</section>
</div>
<aside class=”col-xl-3 right-side”>
<div class=”column-contain”>

<h3>Lead Filer</h3>
<div class=”views-row”>
<div class=”views-field views-field-nothing”><span class=”field-content”> Kelly McBee</span></div><div class=”views-field views-field-title views-field-field-shareholder”><span class=”field-content”>As You Sow</span></div>
</div>

</div>

</div>
</div>

</div>
</div>
</aside&gt