Manufacturing giant Unilever has agreed to halve the amount of new plastics they use by 2025. The announcement follows Tearfund’s 2019 Rubbish Campaign, which targeted four major companies, including Unilever, to halve the number of single-use plastic products they sell.
The company, who own such household brands as Surf, Dove, Marmite and Ben & Jerry’s, have also promised to collect and process at least as much discarded plastic as they sell, in the same time frame.
‘This is a great start and a huge encouragement for everyone that has signed our petition and supported us in their prayers and actions,’ says Dr Ruth Valerio, Director of Global Influencing and Advocacy at Tearfund.
‘Although it does not go as far as we would like, Unilever's pledge to cut new plastic use by 50 per cent by 2025 is the most ambitious we have seen so far from a major consumer goods company.’
The big four… pledges
Tearfund’s Rubbish Campaign targets Unilever, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestlé. It asks them to make four pledges:
- Report on the number of units of single-use plastic products they sell worldwide in each country by 2020.
- Commit to halve the number of these products by 2025.
- Ensure that one single-use plastic item is collected for every one sold by 2022.
- Work with waste pickers around the world to provide employment with dignity, helping to clean their environments.