Boston, June 19, 2025 – Amcor, one of the largest plastic packaging companies in the world, has agreed to assess whether its recycled content claims create financial risks for the company, and if so, to take corrective action. The move came in response to a shareholder proposal from Green Century, which withdrew the proposal in exchange for Amcor’s commitment.
“We applaud Amcor for taking steps to ensure its recycled content claims aren’t misleading,” Leslie Samuelrich, President of Green Century. “Investors need comprehensive and transparent disclosure of business risks in order to protect their investments.”
Recycled content is good – but ‘mass balance accounting’ obscures the facts
The use of recycled content in packaging is a key way to prevent new plastic from entering the environment. However, some companies, including Amcor, use a method called “mass balance accounting” to calculate recycled content. This alternative method can be used by companies to claim that a majority of a piece of packaging is made from recycled content in cases when traditional accounting methods would put that number at less than 10%. Consequently, mass balance accounting is potentially misleading to consumers, which can create compliance risks for companies since misleading environmental claims are illegal in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada and five U.S. states.
Effective solutions for plastics
Companies use mass balance recycled content claims, in part, because consumers increasingly are concerned about plastic. Plastic pollution has been doubling every six years in our world’s oceans, where it kills thousands of marine animals every year. Scientists have also linked plastic to human health problems.
Amcor has taken some action to reduce risks from its large plastic footprint. It offers paper-based alternatives to plastic in its Amfiber product line and discloses how much plastic it uses. Unlike many peers, Amcor also participates in the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty, an industry group that publicly supports the development of an ambitious, legally binding plastics treaty.
“We encourage Amcor to expand on effective solutions that meaningfully address risks associated with its plastic footprint,” said Frances Fairhead-Stanova, shareholder advocate with Green Century. “It’s good for business and good for the planet.”
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