WHEREAS:  plastic pollution is a global environmental crisis and Restaurant Brands International has not developed comprehensive packaging sustainability policies to deal with low recycling rates of its packaging and the high volume of plastic waste that ends up in oceans.

As our Burger King and Tim Hortons brands have helped to foster a wasteful “to go” disposable packaging culture, plastic pollution of land and water has become an urgent environmental issue. The ocean contains 150 million tons of plastic, with up to 12 million tons added annually, equivalent to a garbage truck load every minute. Experts predict there will be more plastic than fish by weight in oceans by 2050. In the marine environment, plastic straws, cups, and lids break down into small indigestible particles that birds and marine animals mistake for food, resulting in illness and death. Packaging that degrades in waterways can also transfer hazardous chemicals to animals and potentially to humans.

Fast food plastic straws, cups, and lids are prevalent in street and marine litter. They are among the top 10 items found in beach cleanups. Americans and Canadians use 550 million plastic straws daily, which are not recycled and can harm marine animals. Tim Hortons was cited as the second largest Canadian plastic polluter in Greenpeace Canada’s 2018 and 2019 beach cleanup brand audits.

The company does not disclose the extent to which paper and plastic cups are collected and recycled at its brands. Most of the billions of cups our company uses every year end up in landfills. A Canadian media investigation found that significant amounts of Tim Hortons cups collected for recycling ended up in the trash.  Our company lags competitors.  Starbucks has a specific goal for reusable coffee container usage, recycles plastic and paper cups left in stores, set a deadline for phase out of plastic straws, and uses 10% recycled paper cup fiber. Blue Bottle Coffee plans to phase out all single use beverage cups by the end of 2020. Our brands lack any of these commitments.

Burger King has locations in China, Indonesia, and the Philippines, countries suffering some of the worst impacts of the plastic pollution crisis.  The company is vulnerable to environmental impacts of business expansion in markets lacking waste management capacity.

BE IT RESOLVED:  Shareholders request the company issue a report to shareholders, to be prepared at reasonable cost and omitting proprietary information, to develop environmental leadership commitments on plastic pollution and recycling through a comprehensive policy on sustainable packaging. 

SUPPORTING STATEMENT: Proponent believes the company should evaluate and report on policies and metrics relative to the company’s performance, such as: recycled content and container recycling goals, adopting reusable/refillable beverage mug programs, ensuring that single-use cups collected actually get recycled, eliminating non-recyclables such as plastic straws and polystyrene foam, and plans to recycle or compost packaging waste at company restaurants. We believe the requested report is in the best interest of the company and its shareholders.