Facing a growing public outcry over the plastic pollution crisis, some of the world’s biggest consumer brand companies have promised to dramatically boost recycling. Yet some of those same companies have made — and failed to deliver on — similar promises in the past.

“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.”

A review of corporate commitments by FRONTLINE has found that three major brand companies and an association of plastic bag makers — all of which have recently pledged to increase the recycled content of their plastic packaging and bags — have fallen short of ambitious recycling-related goals in the past. Read Full Article - PBS, March 31, 2020