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Following engagement with Plastic Pollution Coalition member As You Sow, Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. has agreed to start reporting on spills of pre-production plastic pellets, or nurdles, manufactured in polymer production plants, which are believed to be a significant source of ocean plastic pollution. This follows a similar agreement reached last month between As You Sow and ExxonMobil.

When the company did not respond last fall to a request to engage, As You Sow filed shareholder proposals with Chevron Corp. and Phillips 66, which each own half of Chevron Phillips Chemical, calling for pellet spill reporting. Both companies petitioned the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow them to omit the proposal; the SEC ruled that the companies could not omit the proposals.

Chevron Phillips Chemical is a top plastics producer with 33 production facilities in five countries. The company agreed to report data it submits to state regulatory agencies regarding the amount of pellets lost in the environment due to accidental releases from its plants, the amount of material recovered within its resin-handling facilities that is recycled, substantive information on its best management practices, plastic pellet production capacity, and information on how it engages its supply chain to share best practices and help reduce and eliminate pellet losses elsewhere. It also said it will employ third-party auditing to verify its reporting.

“We are pleased to see Chevron Phillips follow Exxon Mobil and agree to public reporting on plastic pellet spills and management,” Conrad MacKerron, senior vice president of As You Sow, said. “Such basic transparency is essential to enable policy makers and other stakeholders to assess the scope of this growing problem.” As You Sow agreed to withdraw its shareholder proposals with Chevron and Phillips 66 in recognition of the agreement.

Most plastic products originate from plastic pellets. Due to spills and poor handling procedures, billions of pellets are swept into waterways during production or transport annually, and are increasingly found on beaches and shorelines, adding to harmful levels of plastic pollution in the environment. Plastic pellets are estimated to be the second largest direct source of microplastic pollution to the ocean by weight.

When in the environment, plastics break up into smaller and smaller pieces that animals mistake for food; plastic pollution impacts 260 species, causing fatalities from ingestion, entanglement, suffocation, and drowning. Pellets are similar in size and shape to fish eggs and are often mistaken by marine animals for food.

Operation Clean Sweep is a chemical industry program that says it promotes best practices for pellet management and containment to members to reduce pellet loss, but the initiative provides no public reporting. After lack of responsiveness from companies last fall, As You Sow filed shareholder proposals with Chevron, DowDupont, Exxo n Mobil, and Phillips 66, which own large petrochemical operations, asking for annual reporting on spills and measures taken to prevent and clean up spills.

For more information on As You Sow’s work on plastic pellet pollution, click here.

As You Sow is a nonprofit organization that promotes environmental and social corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy, coalition building, and innovative legal strategies. Click h ere to see As You Sow’s shareholder resolution tracker.

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Plastic Pollution Coalition member As You Sow is challenging three of the world’s largest plastic resins manufacturers to disclose actions taken to prevent and remediate spills of pre-production plastic pellets into waterways during production or transport. Plastic pellets are estimated to be the second largest direct source of microplastic pollution to the ocean by weight.

After attempts to engage the companies in dialogue were unsuccessful, shareholder proposals were filed recently with Chevron, DowDupont, ExxonMobil, and Phillips 66, which own large petrochemical operations that produce plastics. The proposals ask for annual reports disclosing spills and measures taken to prevent and clean up any spills.

Most plastic products originate from plastic pellets, also known as pre-production pellets, or nurdles. Billions of plastic pellets are swept into waterways annually, adding to harmful levels of plastic pollution in the environment.

The chemical operations divisions of the four companies are members of Operation Clean Sweep, an industry initiative with a stated goal of reducing pellet spills through adoption of best practices to prevent spills, but this initiative has provided no public reporting in more than 25 years of existence.

“The industry’s effort to deal with pellet spills, Operation Clean Sweep, provides no transparency on the scope and nature of spills or efforts made to clean up,” said Conrad MacKerron, senior vice president of As You Sow. “Given what we know about the alarming rates of plastic leakage into oceans, companies can no longer hide behind vague pledges of best practices. They need to provide prompt and detailed disclosure about specific actions taken to prevent spills, and when spills occur, information on spill size, and actions taken to clean up.”

Pellets are similar in size and shape to fish eggs and are often mistaken by marine animals for food. Plastic pellets can absorb toxins such as dioxins from water and transfer them to the marine food web and potentially to human diets, increasing the risk of adverse effects to wildlife and humans.

Eight million tons of plastic leak into oceans annually, impacting 260 species, causing fatalities from ingestion, entanglement, suffocation, and drowning. Plastic does an estimated $13 billion in damage to marine ecosystems annually. If no action is taken, oceans are expected to contain more plastic than fish by 2050.

One recent study estimated that up to 53 billion pellets may be spilled annually in the United Kingdom alone. Another study concluded that continuous leakage from one major industry production complex in Sweden releases up to 36 million plastic pellets annually. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fined at least four companies in the last two years for spilling pellets into waterways in Southern California.

DowDupont and its subsidiaries reported 120 material spills in 2016 and 2017, but company information lacks specificity as to which may have involved pellets, whether spills occurred on land or waterways, and the extent to which spilled materials were recovered. In 2017, joint venture SCG-Dow disclosed four high-severity spills that may have released up to 11,000 pounds of plastic powder or granules. No information was provided as to what extent of that spill was recovered and what action was taken to prevent similar spills in the future.

For more information on As You Sow’s work on ocean plastics, click here.

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Second Large Plastics Manufacturer — Chevron Phillips Chemical — Agrees to Report on Plastic Pollution Pellet Spills

To Stop Plastic Pollution