Unilever announces new initiative to boost packaging circularity

CIRCLE will initially focus on India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

30 August 2024 – Unilever has announced the launch of a new public–private initiative to scale solutions that reduce plastic use and tackle plastic waste.

Co-founded by Unilever, USAID, and EY, the CIRCLE Alliance is a new $21 million public–private collaboration that will support entrepreneurs and small businesses across the plastics value chain.

The alliance aims to drive solutions for reducing plastic use, managing waste, and fostering circular economies, with a particular emphasis on empowering women in the informal waste sector in the global south.

Unilever chief sustainability officer Rebecca Marmot said: “CIRCLE’s collaborative model of enterprise acceleration – delivered through a mix of grant funding and bespoke business support – will help scale both new and existing solutions for packaging circularity, whether that’s driving collection and recycling, or reuse–refill models.

“Crucially, it will support many small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs that offer impactful, market-based solutions but are currently too small to work at the scale we need.”

Initially focusing on India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, CIRCLE plans to extend its reach by attracting new partners and additional investment.

The initiative builds upon the successful strategies of the TRANSFORM enterprise accelerator, led by Unilever, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and EY.

Unilever has already reduced its virgin plastic use by 18% against a 2019 baseline.

The company also claimed to increase its use of recycled plastic to 22% of our global portfolio.  They have also trialled a variety of reuse and refill models around the world.

Source: Unilever