BOSTON, September 24, 2024 – A noteworthy 40% of General Mills shareholders voted Tuesday in favor of a Green Century° proposal urging the food company to assess how it can increase the scale, pace and rigor of its sustainability efforts, including reducing plastic packaging. The proposal also urged General Mills to ensure its recycling labels don’t mislead consumers.
“Plastic pollution is harming our oceans, our wildlife, and our health,” said Leslie Samuelrich, president of Green Century Funds. “General Mills’ investors have sent a strong message that the company cannot recycle its way out of the plastic pollution problem.”
The ocean ingests enough plastic every minute to fill a garbage truck, and global plastic consumption is on track to double by 2040. Though industry often elevates recycling as the solution to global plastic pollution, experts say reducing plastic use is key.
Green Century filed a similar proposal two years ago asking General Mills to assess how it could cut its plastic use. That resolution received 56% of shareholder votes cast – one of the few majority votes on environmental issues in the 2022-2023 U.S. proxy season. Although General Mills has since enhanced some plastics-related disclosures, it neither issued the requested report nor disclosed substantive approaches, targets or plans to reduce its plastic packaging. Instead, the company doubled down on its goal to design 100% of packaging to be recyclable or reusable by 2030 — even though most plastic is not feasibly recyclable.
Recycling labels for plastic have come under scrutiny in recent years. A September 2023 article by Bloomberg showed that General Mills’ Nature Valley Granola Bar wrappers are not being recycled through “store drop-off” but are instead being landfilled, incinerated or exported. An ABC investigation in May 2023 highlighted the failure of store drop-off systems to recycle plastic bags and films. Other large food companies such as Mondelez have recognized these risks and committed to reduce plastic packaging and remove “store drop-off” and “check locally” recycling logos by 2025.
“General Mills’ emphasis on plastic recyclability over plastic reduction is misleading and ineffective,” said Annie Sanders, Green Century’s director of shareholder advocacy. “At the end of the day, General Mills needs to do right by its shareholders and the world around them. And the message from shareholders is clear: It’s time to reduce plastic pollution.”
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About Green Century
°Green Century Capital Management, Inc. (Green Century) is the investment advisor to the Green Century Funds (The Funds). The Green Century Funds are one of the first families of fossil fuel-free, environmentally responsible mutual funds. Green Century hosts an award-winning and in-house shareholder advocacy program and is the only mutual fund company in the U.S. wholly owned by environmental and public health nonprofit organizations.
*As of 6.30.2024, General Mills, Inc. comprised 0.00%, 0.07% and 0.00% of the Green Century Balanced Fund, the Green Century Equity Fund, and the Green Century International Index Fund, respectively. As of the same date, other securities mentioned were not held in the portfolios of any of the Green Century Funds. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.
You should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a Prospectus that contains this and other information about the Funds please visit www.greencentury.com, email info@greencentury.com, or call 1-800-934-7336. Please read the Prospectus carefully before investing.
Stocks will fluctuate in response to factors that may affect a single company, industry, sector, country, region or the market as a whole and may perform worse than the market. Foreign securities are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, regional economic and political conditions, differences in accounting methods, and other unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers. Bonds are subject to a variety of risks including interest rate, credit, and inflation risk.
This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.
The Green Century Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 235 W Galena Street, Milwaukee, WI 53212. UMB Distribution Services, LLC is not an affiliate of Green Century or any of its affiliates. September 2024.