A proposal to Mondelez International from As You Sow asking the snack food company to phase out unrecyclable packaging received 28.4 percent shareholder support representing $11.8 billion worth of shares at the food manufacturer’s annual meeting.
Mondelez produces brands such as Oreo, Chips Ahoy!, Trident gum, and Philadelphia cream cheese. As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy organization, says many Mondelez products such as Oreo cookies that are packaged in thin, unrecyclable plastic film, could easily be sold in cardboard packaging.
The proposal, the first of its kind to go to a vote, asked the company to assess the environmental and operational risks associated with continuing to use unrecyclable packaging and to develop a timeline, if possible, for phasing it out. Following engagement with As You Sow, last month consumer goods giant Colgate-Palmolive agreed to phase out most of its unrecyclable packaging by 2020.
This year, As You Sow also filed similar proposals at Kraft Foods, General Mills and Procter & Gamble, and a separate proposal asking Kroger and Safeway to develop post-consumer packaging recycling policies. An As You Sow resolution asking Dr Pepper Snapple to develop bottle and can recycling and recycled content goals was supported by 30 percent of shareholders at the company’s May 15 annual meeting.
