Boston, June 5, 2025 – 5.8% of Walmart shareholder votes were cast in favor of a Green Century proposal urging the company to assess how it can increase the scale, pace and rigor of its sustainable packaging efforts. In part, the proposal urged Walmart to reduce its plastic packaging and ensure its recycling labels don’t mislead consumers.
“Plastic pollution is harming our oceans, our wildlife and our health,” said Leslie Samuelrich, president of Green Century. “Walmart’s investors have sent a message that the company cannot recycle its way out of the plastic pollution problem. It’s a material risk that concerns investors.”
The UN Environment Programme estimates that the social and environmental costs of plastic pollution are between $300 and 600 billion dollars per year. This includes costs to human health, the costs of ocean clean-ups and lost marine ecosystem services such as food production and recreation. Although recycling has often been elevated as the solution to global plastic pollution, experts agree it is reducing plastic use that is key.
Walmart set a goal to reduce its use of virgin plastic in its private brand packaging by 15% by 2025 from 2020 levels, but as of 2023, its use of virgin plastic for private brand packaging had increased by 6%.
Studies show that consumers increasingly want to be offered products in reusable packaging, and that reusable packaging is one of the most effective ways to reduce plastic pollution. However, Walmart does not disclose information about reusable packaging initiatives in its sustainability report.
Beyond failing to disclose effective strategies to reduce its use of plastic packaging, Walmart uses labels with misleading recyclability claims on its plastic packaging, including the “Store Drop Off” label. According to investigations conducted by Bloomberg and ABC, the majority of plastic bags and films deposited in “Store Drop Off bins” are sent to landfills or incinerated, not recycled. As a result, some major brands such as Mondelez have publicly committed to stop using the “Store Drop Off” label while other brands have quietly stopped using it.
“Without action from companies such as Walmart, the impacts of plastic on our environment and the risks to human health will only increase,” said Frances Fairhead-Stanova, shareholder advocate at Green Century. “Investors understand this and have sent a clear message to Walmart: It is time to stop messing around with labels and reduce plastic pollution.”
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