Membership status: Strategic Partner
Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of beauty and personal care, home care, and foods and refreshment products.
Unilever is co-headquartered in the UK and the Netherlands. Its products are sold in more than 190 countries, reaching around 2.5 billion consumers a day. It has more than 400 brands, including Dove, Knorr, Rexona, Hellmann’s, Lipton, Wall’s, Lux, Magnum, Axe, Sunsilk and Surf.
Unilever joined the Foundation in 2014. Unilever has signed the European Plastics Pact and the Global Commitment, joining governments, businesses, and NGOs to tackle plastic pollution and waste by implementing solutions to create a circular economy for plastic.
Unilever renewed its Strategic Partnership with the Foundation in 2020, with a focus on raising the ambition level in the transition towards a circular economycircular economyA systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. It is based on three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature. for plastic in the fast-moving consumer goods sector. Unilever is also focusing its efforts on building the momentum towards creating a circular economy for food.
In 2020, Unilever launched The Unilever Compass — a corporate strategy based on three core principles: that brands with purpose grow, companies with purpose last, and people with purpose thrive. Its circular economy commitments include supporting farmers to switch to regenerative agriculture practices and to use 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable plastic packaging by 2025.
Unilever’s Clean Future strategy sets out the company’s ambition to transform its cleaning products, from formula to packaging and use, using 100% renewable or recycled carbon by 2030.
“Unilever has been a consistent circular economy frontrunner in the fast-moving consumer goods industry — showcased by its leadership on plastics. With Unilever as Strategic Partner, I am excited to build on this momentum as we expand the scope of work to include circular food systems.”
- Alice Bodreau, Ellen Macarthur Foundation Strategic Partners Lead
“We’re very committed to delivering our social and environmental goals on plastic packaging, climate and nature, and our clean future commitment… Our mission goes beyond our business, we don’t just want to change within the system, we want to be part of changing the system.”
- Alan Jope, CEO Unilever
The circular economy in action at Unilever — Cif ecorefill
Unilever has made a number of commitments to reduce the amount of plastic it uses, and to reusereuseThe repeated use of a product or component for its intended purpose without significant modification. the plastic it does use — keeping it in the economy, and out of the environment.
Reusable packaging is a critical part of the solution to eliminate plastic packaging.
One example of reusable packaging at Unilever is the Cif ecorefill — a technology that allows consumers to refill and reuse their Cif spray bottles for life.
Made with 75% less plastic, the refill can be attached to Power & Shine bottles, releasing the super-concentrated product, which is filled with water at home. The ecorefill is 100% recyclable once the plastic sleeve is removed.
Furthermore, diluting the product at home means that 97% less water is being transported, fewer trucks on the road and less greenhouse gas emissions. This innovation will remove 1.5 million plastic bottles from UK supermarkets.
For further information, visit the Unilever Website
