Together, PIRG, Environment America, and Environmental Action delivered more than 82,400 petitions pleading with Costco to reduce its use of unnecessary packaging, and the retailer is taking notice.
Recently, Costco made a commitment to increase its transparency on its use of plastic and to create an action plan to cut back on its usage. A growing body of evidence indicates that plastics and microplastics pose serious risks to the general public's health and the environment. By July 2024, Costco has pledged to disclosing information on the total plastic footprint of its in-house brand, Kirkland Signature, broken down by type of plastic. By that same date, the big box store has also agreed to disclose the proportion of recycled material used in its plastic packaging. A 5-year plastic "action plan" that outlines the efforts the company will take to minimize plastic in its Kirkland Signature Packaging will also be made public by the company in December 2024.
"Costco's recent commitments are a good step forward, but we hope this is just the beginning," said Celeste Meiffren-Swango, director of Environment America's zero waste program. Retailers like Costco have a responsibility to decrease the use of wasteful single-use plastic wherever and whenever they can, given the catastrophic situation with plastic pollution that is getting worse by the day and endangering hundreds of species of wildlife.