Earlier this year NLPC initiated a shareholder proposal campaign to counter another fantasy premise (like zero population growth, global warming, and net zero emissions) perpetrated by the political left in the name of environmentalism. The latest hallucination these green-minded delusionists want to impose on the public via government and corporate policies is the idea of a “circular economy.”
What’s that, you ask? A circular economy is one that has no waste — everything gets recycled. There is no byproduct or refuse as a result of industrial processes, manufacturing or consumption. It all gets reused. Here is the definition given by the foundation started by round-the-world British yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur, who is looked upon by globalists everywhere as the expert on reusing everything:
The circular economy is a system where materials never become waste and nature is regenerated. In a circular economy, products and materials are kept in circulation through processes like maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture, recycling, and composting. The circular economy tackles climate change and other global challenges, like biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution, by decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources…
Underpinned by a transition to renewable energy and materials, the circular economy is a resilient system that is good for business, people, and the environment.
As we explained in support of our shareholder proposals this year for Colgate-Palmolive and Walmart, advocates for a “circular economy” demand that companies force the use of recycled raw materials or inputs for their products and packaging, and also that the products and packaging they manufacture be recyclable. This is how they make the whole system “circular.”
These advocates, led by the college reject (but great sailor!) MacArthur, especially hate plastics. They have the heartbeat of Rahm Emanuel in warning of a “plastics pollution crisis,” and because plastic is made from petroleum, it is doubly hated. Hate, hate, hate!
As is the case with all useful substances and materials they hate, the policies of environmental pressure groups force greater inefficiencies and added costs into the economics of the industries and businesses they target. Sadly, as we all know, Corporate America is spineless and believes resistance to lying agitators and propagandists is futile. That’s how we end up with things nobody wants, like men in women’s restrooms, electric vehicles, bans on gas stoves, and paper straws. As was the case with BLM riots and COVID, executives would rather bow to the stunts of the insane people instead of do what makes the most sense economically for their companies and fiduciarily for their shareholders.
Thus, in the case of plastics, retail giants like Walmart and almost all other consumer products companies adopted the forced-recycling agenda of the circular economists. However this year, staring down commitments to reach recyclability targets for their packaging that were impossible to attain, a number of corporations bailed out on the plastics-hate alliance they had joined.
Plastic products and packaging at Home Depot/PHOTO: Phillip Pessar (CC)
NLPC already recognized how unrealistic the excessive recycling demands and a “circular economy” were, which is why we sponsored the Colgate and Walmart shareholder proposals at their respective annual meetings in the spring. For 2026, we have already submitted similar proposals for Coca-Cola (proposal here), Home Depot (proposal here), and Mondelez (maker of Oreos, proposal here). All three companies have reputations for demanding unfeasible levels of recyclable content in packaging for their products. Each proposal calls upon the companies to conduct objective scientific and economic analysis of their plastic packaging policies and to report to shareholders, instead of basing their practices on propagandistic advocacy reports produced by pressure groups.
Forcing recycled content in products and packaging is, as we said at the Walmart annual meeting, like adding a “plastics tariff.” Consider it part of your inflation problem.
And we are not just presenting our own proposals on the topic. We also are circulating memos to shareholders to oppose pro-recycling proposals sponsored by leftist investors, as we did for Procter & Gamble‘s annual meeting this month.
