Unilever partners with Veolia for new recycling initiative

Unilever have signed a three year partnership with Veolia to improve waste collection and recycling infrastructure to help create a circular economy for plastic waste.

Veolia is a group that designs and provides water, waste and energy management solutions which contribute to the sustainable development of communities and industries.

The partnership will focus on material collection, which will help channel recycled content back into the value chain. Veolia will work with Unilever to implement used packaging collection solutions, add recycling capacity and develop new processes and business models in various countries.

Laurent Auguste, Senior Executive Vice-President of Veolia for Development, Innovation and Markets, said: “There is an undeniable need to transform the current way plastic packaging end of life is managed in order to reduce significantly its environmental footprint. It will take a collaboration of a new kind between all the actors of the value chain.”

Last year, Unilever made a pledge for a sustainable future by committing to all of its plastic packaging being fully recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.

Marc Engel, Unilever’s Chief Supply Chain Officer, said: “The scale of the plastic waste issue is getting worse, not better, with the production of plastics expected to double over the next two decades. We all have a lot more to do to address this critical issue and we hope that by partnering with Veolia, a world leader in waste management, we can take meaningful strides towards a circular economy.”

This news follows Mondelēz committing to making all packaging recyclable by 2025. Yesterday, the European Parliament approved a ban on single-use plastic from 2021.

Photograph: Unilever