Kroger
Kroger is the largest traditional grocery chain in the U.S. and second largest general retailer by revenue, operating more than 3,500 stores with revenues exceeding $90 billion.
In 2014, As You Sow filed a shareholder proposal asking Kroger to report on its responsibility for recycling post-consumer packaging, as it has consistently declined to address its responsibility for financing the recycling of post-consumer waste. Our proposal received 13% support of voting shares at the company's annual meeting. A similar proposal last year earned an equivalent level of support, indicating that shareholder concerns have yet to be addressed.
A similar proposal was also filed in 2013 and 2012, asking the company to develop a report on the feasibility of endorsing the principle of producer responsibility for post-consumer package recycling, and to participate with peers in the public policy process development of producer financed EPR systems. The proposal has previously received support from 13% of Kroger shareholders.
Kroger, like other companies who have received this proposal, seeks to divert attention away from the issue at hand to discuss individual actions it is taking to minimize waste in its manufacturing plants and retail stores rather than directly addressing the topic of taking responsibility for post-consumer packaging.
This practice misleads shareholders and proxy analysts by diverting attention to issues not germane to the proposal and creates the perception that if the company has taken actions in other areas relating to recycling, it has significantly addressed the subject of the proposal, which is not the case.
Read more about our engagements with Kroger below.
STATUS: pending
BE IT RESOLVED: Shareowners of Kroger request that the board of directors issue a report, at reasonable cost, omitting confidential information, assessing the environmental impacts of continuing to use unrecyclable brand packaging.
Filing Documents
Related 2018 Engagements
STATUS: pending
BE IT RESOLVED: Shareholders request Kroger produce a report, with board oversight, assessing the climate change risk reduction benefits of adopting quantitative, time-bound, enterprise-wide targets for increasing its renewable energy sourcing. The report should be produced at reasonable cost and exclude proprietary information.
Filing Documents
Related 2018 Engagements
STATUS: 24.0%
BE IT RESOLVED: Shareowners of Kroger request that the board of directors issue a report, at reasonable cost, omitting confidential information, assessing the environmental impacts of continuing to use unrecyclable brand packaging.
Filing Documents
Related 2017 Engagements
STATUS: 24.8%
BE IT RESOLVED: Shareholders request Kroger produce a report assessing the climate change risk reduction benefits of adopting quantitative, enterprise-wide targets for increasing its renewable energy sourcing. The report should be produced at reasonable cost and exclude proprietary information.
Filing Documents
Related 2017 Engagements
STATUS: 28%
BE IT RESOLVED: Shareholders request that Kroger produce a report, by year end 2016, assessing the climate benefits and feasibility of adopting enterprise-wide, quantitative, time bound targets for increasing Kroger’s renewable energy sourcing. The report should be produced at reasonable cost and exclude proprietary information.
Filing Documents
Related 2016 Engagements
STATUS: 26.3%
BE IT RESOLVED: Shareowners of Kroger request that the board of directors issue a report, at reasonable cost, omitting confidential information, assessing the environmental impacts of continuing to use unrecyclable brand packaging.
Filing Documents
Related 2016 Engagements
STATUS: 31.7%
BE IT RESOLVED: Shareowners of Kroger request that the board of directors issue a report, at reasonable cost, omitting confidential information, assessing the environmental impacts of continuing to use unrecyclable brand packaging.
Filing Documents
Related 2015 Engagements
STATUS: 13.0%
Shareowners of Kroger request that the board of directors issue a report, at reasonable cost and omitting confidential information, developing a policy position on the company's responsibility for post-consumer product packaging recycling of its private label brands, and assessing whether alternative approaches could lead to substantially increased packaging recycling.
Filing Documents
Related 2014 Engagements
STATUS: 12.5%
Product packaging is a significant consumer of natural resources and energy, and a major source of waste and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. More than half of U.S. product packaging is discarded in landfills or burned rather than recycled. Only 12% of plastic packaging is recycled.
Filing Documents
Related 2013 Engagements
STATUS: 12.8%
Shareowners of The Kroger Co. request that the board of directors issue a report at reasonable cost, omitting confidential information, by Sept. 1, 2012 assessing the feasibility of adopting a policy of Extended Producer Responsibility for post‐consumer product packaging as a means of reducing carbon emissions and air and water pollution resulting from the company’s business practices, and describing efforts by the company to implement this strategy.
Filing Documents
Press
Related 2012 Engagements
