Unilever set to drastically reduce plastic use

Unilever, the consumer goods giant, has vowed to halve the amount of new plastic it uses within six years.

The company, which owns Domestos, Dove toiletries and Hellmann’s mayonnaise, has promised to reduce its total use of plastic packaging by 100,000 tonnes a year to 600,000 tonnes by 2025. It also plans to speed up its use of recycled plastics in products as part of a target of having 100 per cent reusable, recyclable or compostable plastic packaging by the same date.

“Fixing a system that results in about 60 per cent of plastic packaging ending up in landfill or the natural environment will take a huge collective effort from manufacturers, governments and the recycling industry,” warns Alan Jope, chief executive of Unilever, said in an article in the Times.