Unilever (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey / USA; www.unilever.com) has committed itself to using only reusable, recyclable or compostable plastics in its packaging by 2025, at the same time establishing that its recycling is commercially viable. The US consumer goods giant said also that it is renewing its membership in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (Cowes, Isle of Wight / UK; www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org), which is working on sustainable solutions for plastic packaging – see Plasteurope.com of 25.01.2017. Treating packaging as a valuable resource to be managed efficiently and effectively is a key priority in achieving sustainable development goals, shifting away from a “take-make-dispose” model of consumption to one which is fully circular, the company said.

As part of its efforts to move in step with the circular economy, Unilever said it will publish the “full palette” of plastics materials used in its packaging by 2020 to help create a plastics protocol for the industry, as well as investing in proving and sharing with the industry a technical solution to recycle multi-layered sachets. In particular, it said, this will benefit coastal areas, which are most at risk of plastics leaching into the ocean. Also by 2020, the US company has pledged to reduce the weight of the packaging it uses by a third and increase the use of recycled plastic content in its packaging to at least 25% by 2025, against a 2015 baseline.

“To address the challenge of ocean plastic waste we need to work on systemic solutions – ones which stop plastics entering our waterways in the first place,” said CEO Paul Polman, adding: “We also need to work in partnership with governments and other stakeholders to support the development and scaling up of collection and reprocessing infrastructure which is so critical in the transition towards a circular economy. Ultimately, we want all of the industry’s plastic packaging to be fully circular.”