diff --git a/src/theme-preval.ts b/src/theme-preval.ts
index b1c8b9b1ad5..83b1778170b 100644
--- a/src/theme-preval.ts
+++ b/src/theme-preval.ts
@@ -349,8 +349,14 @@ const stateLabels = {
   }
 }
 
-const functionalColors = splitCompoundColor(primitives.colors.light)
-const mergedColors = deepmerge(colors, functionalColors)
+const {scale: _excludeScaleColors, ...functionalColors} = shadowFilter(primitives.colors.light, false)
+const {scale: _excludeScaleShadows, auto: _excludeAuto, ...functionalShadows} = shadowFilter(primitives.colors.light, true)
+
+const filteredShadows = recursivelyFilterEmptyObjects(functionalShadows)
+const filteredColors = recursivelyFilterEmptyObjects(functionalColors)
+
+const mergedColors = deepmerge(colors, filteredColors)
+const mergedShadows = deepmerge(shadows, filteredShadows)
 
 export const theme = {
   // General
@@ -362,7 +368,7 @@ export const theme = {
   fontWeights,
   lineHeights,
   radii,
-  shadows,
+  shadows: mergedShadows,
   sizes,
   space,
 
@@ -379,19 +385,69 @@ function fontStack(fonts: string[]) {
   return fonts.map(font => (font.includes(' ') ? `"${font}"` : font)).join(', ')
 }
 
-function splitCompoundColor(o: { [key: string]: any }) {
+// The following few methods are data wrangling to split apart shadow values from non-shadow values
+// and also ensure the resulting objects don't contain empty objects from filtering
+// These methods are a temporary measure until we push these changes upstream to primer primitives
+
+function shadowFilter(o: { [key: string]: any }, filterShadow: boolean) {
   const newObject: { [key: string]: any } = {}
   Object.keys(o).forEach(function(key: string) {
     const value: any | undefined = o[key];
-    if (typeof value === "string" && value.match(/(inset\s|)([0-9.empx\s]+){1,4}rgb[a]?\(.*\)/)) {
-      const numericParams = value.replace(/rgb[a]?\(.*\)/g, '').trim()
-      newObject[key] = numericParams
-      newObject[key+"Color"] = value.replace(numericParams, '').trim()
-    } else if (typeof value === "object") {
-      newObject[key] = splitCompoundColor(value)
+    if (typeof value == "object" && !Array.isArray(value)) {
+      newObject[key] = shadowFilter(value, filterShadow)
+    } else if (typeof value === "string" && value.match(/(inset\s|)([0-9.empx\s]+){1,4}rgb[a]?\(.*\)/)) {
+      // this is a shadow value
+      if (filterShadow) {
+        newObject[key] = value
+      }
+    } else if (typeof value === "string") {
+      // this is any other non shadow string value
+      if (!filterShadow) {
+        newObject[key] = value
+      }
     } else {
       newObject[key] = value
     }
   })
   return newObject;
 }
+
+function recursivelyFilterEmptyObjects(o: { [key: string]: any }) {
+  const newObject: { [key: string]: any } = {}
+  Object.keys(o).forEach(function(key: string) {
+    const value: any | undefined = o[key];
+    if (typeof value == "object" && !Array.isArray(value)) {
+      if (isObjectRecursivelyPresent(value)) {
+        newObject[key] = value
+      } else {
+        const filteredChild = recursivelyFilterEmptyObjects(value)
+        if (Object.keys(filteredChild).length > 0) {
+          newObject[key] = filteredChild
+        }
+      }
+    } else {
+      newObject[key] = value
+    }
+  })
+  return newObject;
+}
+
+function isObjectRecursivelyPresent(o: { [key: string]: any }) {
+  const presenceValues: boolean[] = []
+  if (Object.keys(o).length === 0) { return false }
+  Object.keys(o).forEach(function(key: string) {
+    const value: any | undefined = o[key];
+    if (typeof value === 'object' && !Array.isArray(value)) {
+      if (Object.keys(value).length === 0) {
+        presenceValues.push(false)
+      } else {
+        const isRecursivelyPresent = isObjectRecursivelyPresent(value)
+        presenceValues.push(isRecursivelyPresent)
+      }
+    } else {
+      presenceValues.push(true)
+    }
+  })
+
+  return presenceValues.every(p=>p)
+}