Image: Flickr/Damian Cox

In 2012, we filed a proposal asking Kraft Foods to explore the feasibility of adopting an EPR policy for post-consumer product packaging.

A quarter of investors supported our resolution, a very strong initial vote. Other social issue-focused proposals at the meeting received less than 10% support, respectively, demonstrating that Kraft's shareholders consider EPR to be a priority issue.

In October 2012, Kraft changed its name to Mondelez International (MDLZ), and spun off its grocery business to a new company called Kraft Foods Group (KRFT). Mondelez retains the snack food part of the business. As You Sow has re-filed an EPR proposal with Mondelez for 2013.

Mondelez and Kraft Foods Group both lag peers on responsibility for post-consumer packaging. While no major consumer products company has yet embraced EPR for packaging in the United States, some competitors have taken encouraging initial steps.

Mondelez and Kraft Foods together represent 70,000 product SKUs, meaning they deal with a wide array of product packaging. They pay millions of dollars in fees in other countries for collection and recycling of packaging but have not recognized a responsibility for dealing with post-consumer packaging in the U.S.

One of Kraft's challenges is putting packaging on the market that cannot be easily recycled like the aluminum plastic laminate pouches used for its Capri Sun and Kool-Aid Jammers juice drinks. After being on the market for more than 30 years, these packages still cannot be recycled anywhere in the world. As a result, thousands of tons of valuable aluminum contained in the pouches have been landfilled rather than recycled. If the company were to adopt EPR policies, it would have stronger incentive to phase out such non-recyclable packaging.

Read more about our work on Consumer Packaging >>