For too long, the ever-growing deluge of Amazon plastic packaging has been swept under the proverbial rug. Unlike Target and Wal-Mart, the company’s major competitors, Amazon has resisted globally addressing its plastic packaging footprint. This could all change soon, at the company’s annual meeting on May 24, if major investors call on Amazon to finally report and act on its plastic waste.

A similar proposal was narrowly defeated last year when 48.9% of company shares voted for a resolution that called on Amazon to report and reduce its rapidly growing plastic packaging footprint. This was the most support for any shareholder resolution in the company’s history, despite opposition from Amazon’s board of directors, including Jeff Bezos, the company’s executive chair and founder, and Andy Jassy, the company’s CEO.

The reason for this unprecedented shareholder support is simple: Amazon is the world’s largest retailer and produces a staggering amount of waste. The company ships billions of packages around the world and generates hundreds of millions of pounds of plastic packaging waste every year. Oceana estimates—based on data from peer-reviewed scientific research—that up to 26 million pounds of this plastic ends up as pollution in the world’s waterways and seas.

Plastic pollution is devastating the world’s seas. Scientists have found that the type of plastic used by Amazon, plastic film, can be deadly to marine mammals. Flexible plastics—including plastic films such as bags and wrappers—are responsible for the biggest proportion of large marine animal deaths caused by oceanic debris. Whales, dolphins, and sea turtles are the most impacted. Scientists studying these deaths have recommended that reducing the production and use of flexible film-like plastics at the source is the least expensive option to address this problem and most likely to be successful. Plastic film is also, according to a recent scientific survey of marine plastic pollution, the most common form of marine plastic litter in nearshore ocean areas.

Amazon shareholders can make it clear that they want Amazon to address its plastic problem by having a majority of the company’s outstanding shares support the resolution at the company’s upcoming annual meeting at the end of May. Achieving over 50% of the vote will require support from the company’s major investors, including Amazon’s largest institutional shareholders: Blackrock and Vanguard.

Last year, Blackrock supported the resolution, but Vanguard did not. Proxy advisory firms have also been divided on this issue, with Institutional Shareholder Services (or ISS) supporting the resolution and Glass Lewis opposing it. The resolution would have easily passed last year with this additional backing or if the company’s largest insider shareholders had supported the measure. Bezos is Amazon’s largest shareholder with just under 10% of the company.

Amazon’s reluctance to set a company-wide goal for plastic reduction is perplexing, as this is an issue, for a company facing many intractable challenges, that it can address. Amazon has taken action to reduce its plastic use in all its major markets except for its largest: the United States. The company has even developed plastic alternatives like a 100% recyclable lightweight paper padded mailer.

Recently, for the first time, Amazon disclosed a portion of its plastic packaging footprint. It reported that in 2021, the company used 214 million pounds of plastic packaging for the orders it shipped through the company’s fulfillment centers. It did not, however, disclose the total amount of plastic packaging used for all the orders purchased through Amazon’s websites.

Amazon should not only address its plastic problem to save the oceans, but it should also do so for the benefit of its shareholders. The company is exposed to regulatory risk as governments worldwide implement regulations and bans on single-use plastics, including plastic packaging.

Additionally, Amazon’s plastic pollution issues impact its brand image and reputation. Oceana has surveyed Amazon’s Prime Customers and found that over 91% want the company to take action. Additionally, many of the company’s shareholders are signatories to the United Nations Finance Initiative’s Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), and as such, have committed to seeking disclosure on ESG issues, which include plastic pollution.

The company’s resistance to tackling plastic waste appears to be more a matter of will than capacity. Investors can and should push the company to be a leader in reducing plastic use. Addressing plastic pollution’s impact on the oceans transcends partisanship and concerns about “woke capitalism.” Recent surveys have found strong support by citizens from all political backgrounds. Consumers and investors view tackling this issue as a fundamental part of corporate responsibility and sustainability.

By supporting the shareholder resolution and holding Amazon accountable for its plastic packaging footprint, Amazon shareholders will be doing the right thing for the company’s business and their own environmental ESG mandates. Most importantly, they will be doing the right thing for the oceans.