The Wendy's Co: Reusable Opportunities for Packaging

WHEREAS: Without immediate and sustained new commitments throughout the plastics value chain, annual flows of plastics into oceans could nearly triple by 2040.[1]

The growing plastic pollution crisis poses increasing risks to Wendy’s. Corporations could face an annual financial risk of approximately $100 billion should governments require them to cover the waste management costs of packaging they produce.[2] Governments around the world are increasingly enacting such policies, including five new state laws that impose fees on corporations for single-use plastic (SUP) packaging.[3] The European Union has banned ten SUP pollutants and taxed some non-recycled plastic packaging.[4] A French law requires 10% of packaging be reusable by 2027 and Portugal requires 30% reusable packaging by 2030.[5] Additionally, consumer demand for sustainable packaging is increasing.[6]

Pew Charitable Trusts’ groundbreaking study, Breaking the Plastic Wave (“Pew Report”), concluded that improved recycling alone is insufficient to address plastic pollution—instead, recycling must be coupled with reductions in use, materials redesign, and substitution.[7] The Pew Report finds that reducing plastic use is the most viable solution from environmental, economic, and social perspectives.[8]

Wendy’s is part of a “to go” packaging culture, contributing to plastic pollution of land and water.

Competitors McDonald’s and Yum! Brands both acknowledge that reusables will play a role in their future packaging use, each company committing to evaluate and report on the opportunities posed by switching to reusable packaging, including its impacts related to SUP, other single-use packaging, and the environment.[9]

Our Company states it is committed to recyclable, compostable, and reusable packaging by 2026 yet reports just 73% progress towards this goal and does not report on what percentage, if any, of its packaging is delivered in reusables.[10]

Nearly 100 additional consumer goods and retail companies have committed to taking meaningful action towards permanent adoption of reusables and absolute cuts to the use of plastic packaging.[11]

Our Company could avoid regulatory, environmental, and competitive risks by adopting a comprehensive approach to researching and adopting reusable packaging.

BE IT RESOLVED: Shareholders request that the Board issue a report, at reasonable expense and excluding proprietary information, describing how Wendy’s could reduce its plastic use by shifting away from single-use packaging in alignment with the findings of the Pew Report, or other authoritative sources, to reduce its contribution to plastic pollution.

SUPPORTING STATEMENT: The report should, at Board discretion:

Assess the reputational, financial, and operational risks associated with continuing to use substantial amounts of single-use plastic packaging while plastic pollution grows;