Kickstart: Another push to reduce plastic packaging

The environmental nonprofit group As You Sow has seen success as it pushes companies to improve their sustainability.

The group has been involved in pushes for resin suppliers to report spills, in getting Taco Bell and KFC owner Yum Brands to ditch expanded polystyrene and prompting Starbucks to seek more recyclable or reusable cups.

Now it has filed shareholder proposals with 10 consumer goods companies and retailers calling for "commitments to absolute cuts in use of plastic packaging."

The proposals were filed with Amazon.com, Keurig Dr Pepper Inc., KraftHeinz Co., Kroger Co., McDonalds Corp., Mondelez International Inc., PepsiCo, Restaurant Brands International, Target Corp., and Walmart Inc. Restaurant Brands International is a Canadian company that owns Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeye brands.

Merely encouraging recycling doesn't go far enough, As You Sow said in a news release. The companies also need to reduce demand for plastics.

The shareholder proposals ask each company to "estimate how much of its plastic packaging leaks into the environment, describe strategies or goals to reduce use of plastic packaging, and evaluate opportunities for dramatic reductions in plastics used for packaging."

It's probably just a coincidence that the same day As You Sow sent out its news release Jabil Inc. announced it has purchased a paper bottle business to add to its plastics packaging operations.

It's still excellent timing on Jabil's part.

Jabil, based in St. Petersburg, Fla., said it acquired Ecologic Brands Inc. of Manteca, Calif., "significantly enhancing Jabil's sustainable packaging platform and offerings for consumer packaged goods customers."

Much of Jabil's plastics operations are in the Nypro business it purchased in 2013.

With Ecologic, the company can offer ways for customers to "dramatically reduce plastics in packaging worldwide," said Jason Paladino, senior vice president of Jabil and CEO of Jabil Packaging Solutions.

Ecologic supplies the eco.bottle to Seventh Generation and L'Oréal brands.

While the outer part of an Ecologic bottle is made of paperboard, there is still an inner plastic layer. The company says using the paper exterior cuts the use of plastic by 60 percent.

This news doesn't have a specific plastic angle (although like the Ecologic bottle, the packaging involved has a paperboard exterior with a plastic inner layer), but it is of vital importance to many of us.

The food delivery service Grubhub will be delivering Girl Scout Cookies this year.

Obviously, 2021 won't have a typical cookie selling process, with girls setting up card tables for sales outside stores or co-workers passing around order sheets in mostly vacant offices. So Girl Scouts of the USA announced it will offer contact-free cookie deliveries via Grubhub.

"We're proud of the resourceful ways Girl Scouts are running their cookie businesses safely and using their earnings to make the world a better place," said interim GSUSA CEO Judith Batty in a news release. "This season, our girls will continue to exemplify what the cookie program taught them — how to think like entrepreneurs, use innovative sales tactics and pivot to new ways of doing business when things don't go according to plan."

Grubhub is waiving its fee, but there is a minimum order of $15 required — or the value of about three boxes of Thin Mints.