Unilever pledges to cut plastic use in personal care products
By Helena Biggs | 07 October 2019 | Movers & Shakers, News
Unilever, producer of beauty and personal care products, food and beverages and cleaning agents, has pledged to reduce the amount of virgin plastic in its packaging by 50% by 2025.
Europe’s seventh most valuable company – behind brands including Toni&Guy, Sure, Simple & Tresemmé – sees around 2.5 billion people across over 190 countries use its products each day. “This puts us in a unique position to be part of the solution and realise our vision for a waste-free world where no packaging ever enters the environment – on land, in waterways and in our oceans. Plastic is a valuable material. It is crucial for the safe and efficient distribution of our products, and it has a lower carbon footprint than many alternative materials. So, it has its place – but that place is definitely not littering our streets, rivers and oceans,” the company reveals.
In a statement released 7 October 2019, Unilever CEO, Alan Jope, comments: “We can only eliminate plastic waste by acting fast and taking radical action at all points in the cycle. This demands a fundamental rethink in our approach to our packaging and products. It requires us to introduce new and innovative materials, and scale up new business models, like reuse and refill formats, at an unprecedented speed and intensity.
“Our vision is a world in which everyone works together to ensure that plastic stays in the economy and out of the environment.”
“Our plastic is our responsibility and so we are committed to collecting back more than we sell, as part of our drive towards a circular economy. This is a daunting but exciting task which will help drive global demand for recycled plastic.”
Some of the initiatives to reduce virgin plastic is shifting from single to multi-use packs by investing in new models, such as reusable containers and product refilling stations in larger stores.