As You Sow presses consumer packaged goods and grocery companies to take responsibility for post-consumer packaging waste, with the added goals of reducing packaging and eliminating ocean debris.

In 2012, we filed shareholder proposals with the following companies:

These proposals ask the companies to consider adopting a policy of extended producer responsibility. EPR shifts accountability for post-consumer product management from taxpayers and government to producers. It has been successfully adopted in Canada and Europe, diverting large amounts of plastic, glass, metal, and paper away from landfills into recycling streams that conserve resources. We believe EPR policies have been successful at increasing recovery of packaging materials for recycling in Europe and elsewhere that similar policies should be adopted in the U.S.

In addition to filing proposals, we are engaged in shareholder dialogue with these leading food retailers:

In 2011, As You Sow filed shareholder resolutions with General Mills and Procter & Gamble, the first-ever filings on EPR. We withdrew both resolutions in exchange for data underlying the companies' perspectives on EPR and continued good faith dialogues.

Read more information about EPR in our issue brief.

>>Recent media clippings for the consumer packaging initiative