One of Unilever’s main challenges in achieving 100% of its recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging by 2025 was to find a technical solution for the recycling of sachets, which correspond to the greater proportion of non-recyclable plastic packaging due to the low value of Recycling market and the difficulties in recycling the material.
To solve this, Unilever presents the CreaSolv Process, a technology developed in partnership with the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, Germany, which enables the recycling of sachet waste. CreaSolv Process was adapted from a method used to separate brominated flame retardants from polymers into waste electrical and electronic equipment. During the process, the plastic is recovered from the sachet and then used to make new sachets for Unilever products – creating a complete circular economy approach.
“Billions of sachets are used once and discarded worldwide, ending up in landfills, rivers or oceans. Earlier this year, we announced a commitment to help resolve the issue through new recycling technologies. That this technology is open source and we expect to scale up the technology with industry partners so that other companies – including our competitors – can use it, “comments David Blanchard, Unilever’s head of Research & Development.
“The economic argument in favor of this technology is very clear: we know that, globally, $ 80-120 billion a year is lost because plastics are not recycled properly, and finding a solution represents a huge opportunity. 100% of our recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging will support the growth of our business in the long term, “Blanchard adds.
Unilever will inaugurate a pilot plant in Indonesia later this year to test the long-term commercial viability of the CreaSolv Process technology. Indonesia is a critical country for the fight against waste, since it generates 64 million tons per year, of which 1.3 million are destined for the ocean.
Unilever has already committed to reducing the weight of its packaging by a third by 2020 and increasing the use of recycled plastic in its packaging by at least 25% by 2025.
In Press Porter Novelli, May 22, 2017.
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