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California Takes Aim At Plastics Industry With New Law

California Takes Aim At Plastics Industry With New Law

California is taking aim at the plastics industry in an effort to reduce pollution and tackle climate change. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the nation's toughest rules on plastics reduction into law last week, requiring all packaging in the state to be recyclable or compostable by 2032, cutting plastic packaging by 25 percent in 10 years, and requiring 65 percent of all single-use plastic packaging to be recycled in the same timeframe. Kelly McBee, Waste Program Coordinator at As You Sow, explains the potential impact this law could have on reducing plastic pollution across the country. Read More →

Waste, Circular EconomyAs You SowJuly 5, 2022homepage, Kelly McBee, plastic waste

Nearly half of Amazon shareholders agree: Time to cut back on plastic packaging

Nearly half of Amazon shareholders agree: Time to cut back on plastic packaging

Even since 2021, Conrad MacKerron, As You Sow’s senior vice president, said that he’s observed a significant jump in support for plastics-related shareholder resolutions. “We saw a real shift,” he told Grist, including a 14 percent spike in yes votes for this year’s Amazon resolution compared to a similar proposal filed last year. Read More →

Waste, Circular EconomyAs You SowJune 14, 2022homepage, Conrad MacKerron, amazon, plastic waste

Coca-Cola to boost use of refillable bottles in an ‘industry-leading’ move against plastic waste

“We are pleased to see the company increase its commitment to reusable bottles as a proven method to reduce single-use plastic waste and promote a circular economy for packaging,” said Conrad MacKerron, senior vice president at As You Sow, which declared the move “industry-leading” among consumer conglomerates.

“We agree with the company that reusable packaging is among the most effective ways to reduce waste, use fewer resources and lower carbon emissions,” he said.

Waste, Circular EconomyAs You SowFebruary 11, 2022homepage, Conrad MacKerron, plastic waste, Consumer Packaging

Walmart to cut virgin plastics use

“The company has set a significant initial goal to reduce the use of virgin plastic,” says Conrad MacKerron, senior vice president of As You Sow “We encourage other companies to step forward and make bolder, larger absolute cuts in overall plastic packaging. Reducing virgin plastic use is a good start, but cuts in total plastic use have a greater impact. We need hundreds of companies to make significant cuts in single-use plastic packaging if we are to make meaningful progress in reducing the flow of plastic wastes into oceans.” Read More →

Waste, Circular EconomyAs You SowOctober 8, 2021DeAnne Toto, plastic waste, plastics, plastic pollution, Walmart, walmart

Coca-Cola scores highest on sustainable packaging, but most CPGs fall short, report says

As You Sow's McBee said that there is reason to push companies to follow through on their 2025 pledges and do more. Read More →

Waste, Circular EconomyAs You SowSeptember 30, 2021Chris Casey, plastic waste, plastic pollution, plastics, scorecard, report

PepsiCo’s vow to curb plastics use raises hopes for more action

Conrad MacKerron, senior vice president of As You Sow, said he sees Pepsi’s commitment as “a significant goal,” but the company’s timeline lags behind other major retailers and consumer brands. Read M ore →

Waste, Circular EconomyAs You SowSeptember 23, 2021Ellen Meyers, plastics, plastic pollution, plastic waste, pepsi

DuPont Investors Vote in Favor of Plastic Pollution Transparency

DuPont Investors Vote in Favor of Plastic Pollution Transparency

The newly-passed proposal is one such step. Plastic pellets are the raw components of almost all plastic products, As You Sow explained in its release. These petrochemical building blocks are estimated to be the second-largest source of microplastics in the ocean by weight. It is believed that about 10 trillion of them are spilled into the environment every year. Read More →

Waste, Circular EconomyAs You SowMay 17, 2021Olivia Rosane, plastics, plastic waste, dupont, Dupont, homepage

Walmart says to cut virgin plastic usage by 'significant' level by 2025

In response to Walmart's commitment, As You Sow withdrew its shareholder proposal filed with the company and nine other consumer goods retailers in January 2021, it said in a statement. Read More →

Waste, Circular EconomyAs You SowMay 12, 2021Sarah Schneider, plastic waste, plastics, walmart, Walmart

DuPont gets transparent about plastics

DuPont gets transparent about plastics

According to As You Sow, a nonprofit shareholder advocacy group that helped file the proposal, DuPont’s environmental reports will “disclose trends in the amount of plastic in various forms released to the environment by the company annually and concisely assess the effectiveness of the company’s policies and actions to reduce the volume of the company’s plastic materials contaminating the environment.” Read More →

Waste, Circular EconomyAs You SowMay 8, 2021Adam Mahoney, plastics, dupont, plastic waste

Plastic-Free July: How Apparel Brands Are Leveraging Recycled Plastics

The need for awareness around this issue is heightened this year with new data from the nonprofit As You Sow, which focuses on corporate social responsibility. Read More →

Waste, Circular EconomyAsYouSowJuly 13, 2020Kaleigh Moore, waste report, plastic waste, report, plastics report, plastics, homepage

Major companies get failing grades on plastic waste reduction

Walmart Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Domino's Pizza Inc. and the Hershey Co. received low marks for their efforts to address the global plastic waste crisis in a new report. Read More →

Waste, Circular EconomyAsYouSowJune 22, 2020Tamara Ward, waste report, plastics report, plastic waste, plastics, report

Reports Examine Corporate Progress on Tackling Plastic Pollution

On Wednesday, advocacy group As You Sow released a report — which analyzes the actions, or inactions, of 50 of the largest US consumer-facing companies to reduce plastic pollution. Read More →

Waste, Circular EconomyAsYouSowJune 22, 2020Brian Yurasits, waste report, plastics report, plastics, plastic waste

NGO: Consumer product industry falling short on circular plastics

NGO: Consumer product industry falling short on circular plastics

The largest consumer product makers and retailers in the U.S. are doing a poor job of making their plastic packaging more responsible and financially supporting efforts to boost recycling, according to a new report from socially responsible investment advisory group As You Sow. Read More →

Waste, Circular EconomyAsYouSowJune 22, 2020plastic waste, plastics, Steve Toloken, report, waste report, plastics report

Companies talk a lot about ending plastic pollution—but they’re not doing much to back it up

Companies talk a lot about ending plastic pollution—but they’re not doing much to back it up

Unilever scored highest out of the 50 large companies in a new report from the nonprofit As You Sow, but still only earned a grade of B–. PepsiCo, despite some experiments with packaging-free refill stations, earned a D+. Fifteen companies got failing grades, including Whole Foods, Tyson Foods, and Hershey’s. Read More →

Waste, Circular EconomyAsYouSowJune 18, 2020Adele Peters, report, waste report, plastics report, plastics, plastic waste

Plastics report card

MAKING THE GRADE — Corporate America has a long way to go to clean up its plastic problem, but there are some signs of progress in a new report out today from As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy group. Read More →

Waste, Circular EconomyAsYouSowJune 18, 2020Nick Juliano, waste report, report, plastics report, plastic waste, plastics

The Votes Are in at Tim Hortons

The Votes Are in at Tim Hortons

Earlier this week, shareholders of Restaurant Brands International (QSR), the parent company of Tim Horton’s, Popeye’s Louisiana Chicken and Burger King, cast their ballots on two shareholder proposals – one on worker rights, and the other on pollution. Read More →

Waste, Circular EconomyAsYouSowJune 15, 2020Ruth Saldanha, plastics, plastic waste, rbi resolution, rbi, tim hortons

Republic Services to look into plastics recovery and recycling

Republic Services to look into plastics recovery and recycling

Republic Services Inc., Phoenix, has committed to publishing a report on how the company can improve efforts to increase plastics recovery and recycling to address environmental problems caused by plastic pollution, according to a news release from Berkeley, California-based nonprofit As You Sow. Read More →

Waste, Circular EconomyAs You SowApril 13, 2020plastic pollution, plastics, DeAnne Toto, plastic waste, Republic Services, recycling

Companies’ New Pledges to Boost Recycling Face Old Pitfalls

Companies’ New Pledges to Boost Recycling Face Old Pitfalls

“Companies make these big goals. Years roll by, nothing happens or they miss it,” says Conrad MacKerron, senior vice president of the shareholder activist group As You Sow, which has filed shareholder proposals to push companies to increase their recycling efforts. “And then there’s really no penalty in a lot of cases, because people have moved on.” Read More →

Waste, Circular EconomyAsYouSowApril 6, 2020Orion Donovan-Smith, plastics, plastic waste, recycling

Yum Brands to stop using EPS packaging

Yum Brands to stop using EPS packaging

"We appreciate Yum's commitment to phase out foam containers globally as a significant corporate leadership action," Conrad MacKerron, senior vice president of As You Sow, said in a statement. "This is a win for oceans and marine life as foam packaging poses particular threats to wildlife." Read More →

Waste, Circular EconomyAsYouSowMarch 2, 2020plastic waste, plastics, recycling, yum brands, Erin Sloan

WM Inc to Identify Gaps in Recycling Infrastructure to Increase Plastics Recycling

WM Inc to Identify Gaps in Recycling Infrastructure to Increase Plastics Recycling

As You Sow believes more organized, concerted action is needed by producer brands, recyclers, processors, regulators, and advocacy groups to dramatically increase levels of recycling, both to capture the embedded value of these materials, as well as to provide feedstock for the recycled content many brands now promise to use. Read More →

Waste, Circular EconomyAsYouSowFebruary 27, 2020Ben Messenger, plastic waste, plastics, recycling