MAKING THE GRADE — Corporate America has a long way to go to clean up its plastic problem, but there are some signs of progress in a new report out today from As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy group. Researchers graded 50 large companies on how well they managed their waste streams. Companies generally scored best when it comes to designing packages that can be recycled or using recycled content themselves, but nearly all of them failed on support for “producer responsibility” programs, such as deposit laws. The group is hosting a webinar this afternoon at which the authors will discuss the report, and we got an early peek.

As You Sow found signs of encouragement in the growth of reusable packaging platforms like Loop, although most companies are “not moving swiftly enough to replace single-use packaging.” It identified several ambitious goals companies have set to increase the use of recycled content, but to meet those goals U.S. recycling rates would have to more than double in a matter of years after remaining stagnant for decades. “This would be an unprecedented effort to achieve and represents a core challenge to companies,” the report’s authors wrote. Read Full Article - Poltico, June 17, 2020