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Unilever wants to be a global sustainability leader but it has a typical corporate mindset on what that means - business as usual with green sprinkles on top, especially when it comes to sachets.
Despite being among the top 3 plastic polluters in the world, Unilever has used sustainability for its market positioning and claims to be planet and society-conscious. Yet their actions reflect how little they are doing in reality.
Unilever has made commitments and set sustainability goals with UNEP and Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and as a member of the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty to ensure that all its plastic packaging would be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. It has just 3 years to meet its own targets, but without quitting sachets, Unilever is unlikely to be able to meet this commitment. By eliminating sachets, Unilever can set high industry standards, and advance its vision to be a sustainability leader. With the #QuitSachets campaign, we want to dismantle their hype and redefine their ‘possible’ by setting a clear, high bar of what actual leadership looks like.
On 26th July 2023, #BreakFreeFromPlastic invited journalists and other media personnel from Asia-Pacific to join the online panel discussion on Unilever’s typical delay-derail-distract tactics, and to shape the public discourse on the need for fast-moving consumer goods companies (FMCGs) to #QuitSachets to prioritise people and planet over profits.
This is especially true of plastic sachets - single-use, small-format, flexible pouches - that perpetuate waste colonialism by causing harm to communities and the environment.
The Unilever X-Files expose the failed projects and false promises peddled by this giant corporation, instead of phasing out sachets.
The term ‘circular economy’ touted by corporations is problematic - plastics are not circular in nature because they cannot be recycled safely, effectively or indefinitely. It would take less time and investment to phase out all single-use, unnecessary and problematic plastics, and it is time for corporations like Unilever to move toward that goal.
It is imperative that Unilever and other FMCGs commit to phasing out sachets to address the plastic crisis.
