Sysco shareholders say yes to less plastic packaging
Shareholders of the world’s largest food distributor overwhelmingly supported a proposal on plastic use.
Sysco Corp, the world’s largest food distributor, received a clear mandate at its November AGM when 92% of shareholders voted in favour of a proposal on reducing its plastic use.
The proposal, which was submitted by responsible investing firm Green Century, asked Sysco to report on if, and how, it can reduce its plastic-packaging use.
Sysco’s no-response response
The AGM result shows that the proposal raised pressing concerns for shareholders, questioning why Sysco hadn’t set targets to reduce its own-branded plastic use, and highlighting that Sysco’s peers such as Walmart and Unilever were already ahead of the game.
One of the studies cited in the proposal claimed that “humans may consume a credit card’s worth of plastic every week” due to microplastics found in our food and water.
However, in an unusual move for any company, Sysco held back from recommending shareholders to vote either for or against it, saying that it already planned to carry out most of the proposal’s requests. This move is likely to have contributed to the minimal resistance the proposal faced at the company meeting.
The results
✅ 92.1% of shareholders voted in favour of the proposal.
✅ 96.1% of Tumelo users voted in favour of the proposal.
What next?
Time will tell whether Sysco delivers on its promises. In the meantime, shareholders can check out Sysco’s 2022 Sustainability Report which details the company’s sustainability efforts.
