Unilever has worked with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and EY to establish the Circle Alliance. With an initial investment of $21 million, the partnership is aimed at supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses across the plastics value chain to scale solutions that reduce plastic use, deal with plastic waste and build circular economies.
Unilever said that its investment in the Circle Alliance includes a cash contribution from its Climate & Nature Fund where the company is investing €1 billion by 2030. The Alliance will initially focus on programs in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. But this is set to expand to other markets by bringing in new organisations with additional funds to invest.
This new partnership, which comes ahead of the fifth Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee (INC-5) on Plastic Pollution starting in Busan in late November, builds on an initiative called Transform. This is an impact enterprise accelerator which is led by Unilever, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and EY. Transform supports innovative SMEs and entrepreneurs providing market-based solutions to key environmental challenges, including plastic pollution.
The Circle Alliance was officially launched at an event held in Washington, US, during June. Speaking at the event Unilever’s Chief Sustainability Officer Rebecca Marmot said: “I think innovation through an R&D lens is hugely exciting and it leads to better formats and better packaging. But I believe we also need to think about innovation from a business model perspective as well. And I think that’s where the systems approach has really come in. So, that’s things like the partnership we have already existing with EY and the UK Government, Transform, where we’re investing in social enterprises to look at how we promote circular economy approaches.”
Earlier this year Unilever CEO Hein Schumacher attended the fourth round of negotiations for a UN treaty to end plastic pollution, which was held in Ottawa, Canada. Representing the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty, a group of more that 200 organisations from across the plastics value chain supporting a binding treaty to tackle plastic pollution, Schumacher said that upstream policy interventions were needed. “Unilever and the Business Coalition are calling for global rules because voluntary initiatives alone will not solve the crisis. Furthermore, at Unilever, we know that for us to deliver on our plastics packaging commitments, we need all actors to pull in the same direction.”
Unilever said that packaging is vital for its business, because it allows products to be transported safely and stored in top condition. But it also said the link between packaging and plastic pollution is “undeniable”. As a result the company has identified plastic as one of its four sustainability priorities. Unilever said that it has reduced its use of virgin plastic by 18% against a 2019 baseline and increased its use of recycled plastic to 22% of its global portfolio, and run a number of reuse and refill models around the world. It is also working on developing solutions for hard-to-recycle flexible plastic packaging materials, including sachets.
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