First Place: PVC Consumer Campaign

Members of the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice protest outside of Target in Newington, CT.
© Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice

 

 

 

Lead Group(s):

Center for Health, Environment and Justice

Support Group(s):  

As You Sow, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, Citizens’ Environmental Coalition, Clean Water Action, Investor Environmental Health Network, Making Our Milk Safe, Ohio Citizen Action, Wetlands Activism Collective, and many others.

Description of the Problem the Campaign is seeking to address (50 word max):

The PVC Consumer Campaign is a strategic effort to impact an industry that threatens public health nationwide through the use of dangerous chemicals in everyday household products.  The campaign is urging Target, one of the nation’s largest retailers, to phase out this unnecessary toxic plastic in favor of safer alternatives.

Brief Description of the Achievement(s) (30 word max):

On CHEJ’s “Target Day of Action” events were held at over 200 Target stores nationwide.  In response, Target indicated they are intensively assessing and actively pursuing opportunities to reduce PVC.

Description of how this is an important step toward the Campaign's goals, and if applicable, how it shows innovation (150 word max):

While Target shareholders attended the company's annual meeting, events were held at over 200 stores. At the shareholders meeting, we held a rally and news conference outside while a number of health and environmental organizations spoke inside.  Because of the questions raised inside the meeting, there now isn’t a single Target senior executive who isn’t aware of the PVC problem.  We ran an ad in USA Today on the day of the meeting and Target's CEO was handed a copy of the ad along with a petition with over 10,000 signatures.  We also released a report that summarizes how Target is lagging behind Wal-Mart.

In response to our campaign, Target indicated they are intensively assessing and actively pursuing opportunities to reduce PVC usage.  While these are positive steps in the right direction, we will continue to keep up the pressure until Target commits to a specific phase-out timetable.