Unilever cuts its virgin plastic use by 18%, ups use of recycled plastic to 22%

06 / 09 / 2024

By Marwa Nassar - -

Unilever has managed to reduce its virgin plastic use by 18% against a 2019 baseline and increased its use of recycled plastic to 22% of our global portfolio.

Unilever has trialed a variety of reuse and refill models around the world as the company’s ambition is an end to plastic pollution through reduction, circulation and collaboration.

Packaging is vital for Unilever’s business. It helps the company serve the needs of people around the world. It enables Unilever to transport and keep its products safe and in top condition. It’s also central to the experience of the company’s consumers and how it delivers superior brands.

However, the link between packaging and plastic pollution is undeniable. It’s one of the biggest and most visible environmental challenges Unilever is grappling with, which is why the company has identified plastic as one of its four sustainability priorities in its Growth Action Plan.

Unilever is doubling down on key issues such as reducing its use of virgin plastic and developing solutions for hard-to-recycle flexible plastic packaging materials, including sachets.

Unilever has teamed up with USAID and EY to launch the CIRCLE Alliance – a new $21 million public–private collaboration which aims to support entrepreneurs and small businesses across the plastics value chain to scale solutions that reduce plastic use, tackle plastic waste and build thriving circular economies. It has a particular focus on women, who make up the majority of waste collectors working in the informal sector in the global south.

Rebecca Marmot, Unilever’s Chief Sustainability Officer, said “CIRCLE’s collaborative model of enterprise acceleration – delivered through a mix of grant funding and bespoke business support – will help scale both new and existing solutions for packaging circularity, whether that’s driving collection and recycling, or reuse–refill models.

“Crucially, it will support many small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs that offer impactful, market-based solutions but are currently too small to work at the scale we need.”

While CIRCLE’s initial focus is on India, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, the plan is to expand to other markets by bringing in new organisations with additional funds to invest.

It builds on the successful approaches developed by impact enterprise accelerator TRANSFORM which is led by Unilever, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and EY.

Unilever’s investment in CIRCLE includes a cash contribution from its Climate & Nature Fund, an impact-led investment platform through which it is investing €1 billion ($1.1 billion) by 2030 to deliver positive impact and business benefits.

Unilever aims to transform the way its products are made and reach end of life by investing in projects that drive systemic change, and collaborating with partners and co-financiers to scale solutions.

It is also contributing to Circulate Capital’s Ocean Fund to support better investment and infrastructure in South and South East Asia, as well as Latin America, where ocean plastic pollution is particularly acute.