Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of Beauty & Personal Care, Home Care, and Foods & Refreshment products, with sales in over 190 countries and products used by 2.5 billion people every day. We have 149,000 employees and generated sales of €50.7 billion in 2020.

Africa: Eastern Africa, Middle Africa, Northern Africa, Southern Africa, Western Africa

America: Caribbean, Central America, Northern America, South America

Asia: Eastern Asia, Central Asia, South-eastern Asia, Southern Asia, Western Asia

Europe: Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Western Europe

Oceania: Australia and New Zealand, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia

Unilever has committed to have a virgin plastic packaging footprint of no more than 350,000 tonnes by 2025, a reduction of 50% compared to 2018. This reduction includes removing 100,000 tonnes of plastic packaging entirely.

Our reduction strategy is innovation-led and focused on six key pillars, from traditional light-weighting to alternative materials and new business models that focus on refill and reuse. We are looking holistically at our products to ensure that our future formats are designed to allow for significantly less or no plastic packaging.

Whilst we are prioritising elimination of plastic, replacing virgin plastic with post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic also plays a key role. As set in another of our commitments, we will ensure our portfolio consists of 25% recycled material by 2025. We consider this our first step and are well on track to deliver this commitment early. We will continue to use recycled material over virgin where possible to continue to reduce our total virgin footprint.

Unilever has committed to have a virgin plastic packaging footprint of no more than 350,000 tonnes by 2025, a reduction of 50% compared to 2018. We plan to deliver this by eliminating over 100,000 tonnes of plastic from our packaging by accelerating multiple-use packs and reusable, refillable, and no plastic product innovations. We will deliver the remainder by increasing our use of recycled materials and by giving plastic a value to ensure it can be collected and processed. We continued the roll-out of our detectable black pigment for our high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles, used by TRESemmé and Lynx/Axe brands, so they can now be ‘seen’ by recycling plant scanners and sorted for recycling, including to additional markets in Europe. We also made important steps forward in starting the replacement of multilayer flexibles with recyclable structures in India, across several of our product categories and moved to a new mono-material structure for Knorr in Turkey and in Brazil.

Our ambition is to shift from single to multiple-use packs by investing in new business models. We are also investing in material innovations such biodegradable or alternative materials. Finally, we aim to make materials recyclable by collaborating with the industry (e.g. CEFLEX) and creating valuable end-market opportunities for recycling by 2025, including working with governments to develop infrastructure for collection and processing. For instance, we aim to make pumps/trigger sprays recyclable by 2025.

We plan to eliminate:

• Undetectable carbon black in HDPE bottles UK & US by end of 2023, then globally by 2025.

• Multilayer materials, where suitable and no unintended consequences, by 2025.

• Single use cutlery by 2025.

• Single use straws by 2025.

• Tear-offs by 2025, where technically possible and without compromising consumer safety.

• PS by 2025.

• PETG in plastic packaging by 2025.

• B2C Bottles will be partially eliminated via reuse models and new business models.

Recent or in-progress pilots of reuse models for new products or packaging, Reuse models in place for consumer facing products or packaging

Product line(s) with reuse model(s): 55

Market(s) where reuse models are available today: Southern Africa, Northern America, South America, Eastern Asia, South-eastern Asia, Southern Asia, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand (40% of total)

Our commitment to reduce our absolute plastic footprint by 100,000 tonnes by 2025 requires the scaling of reuse and refill. This remains our most challenging area as it requires a shift in business models and significant consumer behaviour change. We’ve continued our ‘test, learn and refine’ approach and have seen that by keeping things simple we can make changes easier for consumers to adopt. We’ve seen success with our refill at home innovations, with a focus on concentrations. For example, we have two successful dilute-at-home formats; Cif ecorefill in the UK, a 10x concentration that requires 75% less plastic, and our 6x concentrated OMO liquid laundry detergent in Brazil. Retailing for less than standard 3l bottles, it represents better value for the consumers and uses 72% less plastic. Refill on the go innovations continue to expand, including Sedal shampoo in-store refills in Mexico, and app-based Algramo refills of Quix washing up liquid and OMO detergent in Chile.

Piloting reuse models for new products or packaging

Introducing or expanding reuse models for consumer facing products/packaging

Our approach to reuse and refill is building momentum, with real-world pilots providing the insights needed to ‘test, learn and scale’. We know we can’t do this alone; global change needs a whole system behind it. It requires buy-in from retailers, manufacturers, delivery services, civil society and, of course, consumers. We also see a critical role for governments, especially in helping promote innovation and encouraging investment. We’ve published our reuse learnings on our website and will keep collaborating to grow this space. Our experiments will also continue. We have appointed dedicated in-house teams to build expertise, test different approaches and scale up successful pilots. Our refill pilot with Asda in the UK will expand to new stores, our OMO refill at home format has launched in Argentina and will launch in Australia and New Zealand this year, and we will expand refill for beauty and personal care products, such as our Dove refillable deodorant.

In 2020, 52% of our 690KT footprint was reusable, recyclable or compostable in practice. We’ve made progress on numerous technical challenges: starting the implementation of recyclable replacement specs for our multilayer laminates in India in Homecare and Hair products; Plastic-free packaging innovations include bamboo toothbrushes from Signal; recyclable glass soup bottles from Knorr and recyclable paper ice cream tubs from Carte D’Or; Seventh Generation’s zero-plastic range on eCommerce channels in the US using packaging made from steel and Dove’s single-bar soaps becoming plastic-free. We’re also tackling the biodegradability of our teabags: our PG Tips tea brand switched to 100% biodegradable tea bags using a plant-based material.

We introduced a new target in 2019 to help collect and process more plastic packaging than we sell by 2025. We have programmes with partners across the world including waste collection and processing, buying recycled plastics, and through supporting well-designed EPR schemes. In the reporting period we made progress towards this goal: Working with UNDP in India, reaching 33K households and 2500T of plastic collected. In Indonesia we’ve supported 18 cities to make 780 waste banks searchable on Google maps. Our $15m investment in Circulate Capital has made its first investments in recycling infrastructure in India and Indonesia. In Europe, as a member of CEFLEX, we have supported industry roadmaps and guideline development.

No - We used a local approach (assessing recyclability country by country for all our packaging) and provided additional evidence of the recycling rate (30%) threshold being met in specific markets (see endnotes for more information).

65 % (see endnotes for more information on the packaging considered as designed for recycling)

Please note: This optional metric is not the same as the percentage of recyclable plastic packaging contributing towards the 100% target. More information on the Global Commitment recyclability definition can be found in the 2021 Progress Report.

100% reusable, recyclable or compostable

We’re continuing to make progress on technical recyclability (i.e. packaging designed for recycling but not yet recycled at scale) through new recyclable solutions for flexibles, tubes, and pumps/applicators. For example, in South Asia and South East Asia we are working to move to monomaterial PE-based sachet and pouch materials across our portfolio, have launched recyclable tubes for Signal toothpaste in Indonesia and Love, Beauty & Planet recently launched the first pack with a fully recyclable 100% monomaterial pump, available on its website. We are also developing innovative solutions with alternative, recyclable, materials and formats.

As recycling infrastructure improves across the markets we operate in, we expect an increase in our actual recyclability which will close the gap on what is technically recyclable. We’re helping to stimulate investment in infrastructure through the continued expansion of our collection and processing programme to other geographies and at larger scale. For example, in India we expect to achieve our goal of collecting more plastic than we sell in 2021, with 100KT of plastic packaging collected through partnerships such as our work with UNDP.

In 2020, Unilever increased its PCR usage to around 75,000 tons, over 10% of Unilever’s plastic footprint. This included progress across a wide range of product categories. Dove uses 100% recycled plastic bottles in North America and Europe, removing more than 20,000 tonnes of virgin plastic per year. We have launched new Signal Ecolo Clean toothbrush in France made from 100% food-grade PCR. Bango, our soy sauce brand in Indonesia moved to 100% rPET from August 2019, removing 500 tonnes of virgin plastic per year. Magnum collaborated with SABIC and launched the first recycled plastic ice cream tubs in Europe. This new technology uses low quality, mixed plastic waste that wouldn’t otherwise be recycled. More than 7 million tubs were launched across European countries in 2020. OMO has launched 100% recyclable, 50% PCR bottles of laundry liquid, boosted with plant-based stain remover, in line with our Clean Future initiative to reduce the carbon footprint.

Despite the challenges presented by Covid-19, we expect to double use of PCR in the next 12 months and are on track to deliver at least 25% PCR and halve our virgin plastic usage by 2025. To achieve this, we are stepping up PCR use in our brands and using partnerships to tackle key challenges, including to improve recycling infrastructure and develop food grade PCR. In US, we are participating in Closed Loop Fund to improve the recycling rate and build capacity for high quality PCR. Through our investment into Circulate Capital, we aim to develop more PCR suppliers in South and South East Asia. In China, we will invest into AI sorting collection machines to collect FMCG bottles and, through our partnerships with PCR manufacturers, turn the bottle back into a Unilever packaging. To unlock PCR application in food grade and frozen grade rPP, we are working with chemical recycling technology providers to expedite the plans by providing offtake agreements.

Unilever continues to invest in new business models and innovative packaging materials as a key part of our strategy to deliver on our commitments across R&D, supply chain and other areas of the business. External investment continues to play a critical role, including our $15m investment with Circulate Capital in Asia and our $15m investment in the Closed Loop Leadership Fund, a private equity fund which seeks to increase recycling rates in the US.

In 2020, PwC assured our footprint for waste associated with the disposal of our products (per consumer use). We are constantly working to improve our data and processes, including to expend our scope of 3rd party verification in the future.

The basis of preparation for our commitment is to report primary and secondary plastic packaging of our purchases in our 26 key markets, which represents about 80% of our turnover. We do not report tertiary plastic packaging, sales outside of key markets or sales by acquired companies yet to be integrated into Unilever’s systems.

We now have accurate data for around 80% of the sales volume in scope for plastic packaging reporting. Based on this, our total plastic packaging footprint is 690,000 tonnes, of which 52% was reusable, recyclable or compostable, in practice and at scale (i.e. actual recyclability). Approximately 11% (76,000 tonnes) of our total plastic packaging footprint consisted of recycled plastic – a significant increase compared to last year and strong progress towards our goal.

To assess recyclability, we used a local approach, for which:

• Compared to the recycling rate survey results, we consider the following packaging categories (representing 4% of our total packaging weight) as non-recyclable: There are limited number of materials and markets where Unilever’s recyclability assessment deviates from EMF. These relate to markets where waste management infrastructure is very limited, and as such Unilever does not classify most materials in these markets as recyclable. The deviation that represents a material significance for our footprint relates to Russia, where we consider most plastic packaging formats as not recyclable.

• Compared to the recycling rate survey results, we consider the following packaging categories (representing 4% of our total packaging weight) as recyclable: There are limited number of materials and markets where Unilever’s recyclability assessment deviates from EMF. This includes some materials where Unilever has evidence that the material is recycled in practice and at scale. The deviations that represent a material significance for our footprint relate to ‘PP – other rigids’ in Germany and the UK.

• We believe the above packaging categories meet the 30% recycling rate threshold in their respective market based on the following evidence: Our approach is aligned with the definitions of recyclable as per the Global Commitment, assessing packaging materials recyclability in practice and at scale. Our approach only differs in the sources of information used, and by our country by country approach used to examine recycling infrastructure. For example, PP pot, tubs and trays are considered recyclable by many local organisations in Europe. In Germany, Zentrale Stelle state there is infrastructure for PP tubs and consider PP rigids recyclable. In the UK, WRAP have guidance that considers our PP packaging as recyclable.

Technically recyclable plastic packaging is plastic packaging that has material specifications that allow it to be recycled if the required waste management infrastructure exists in the country where the plastic packaging is sold.

For product line(s) with available reuse model(s): A product line refers to a variant launched by a brand in a reuse format.