Unilever NA invests $15 million in plastic recycling initiative

Photo Credit: Unilever North America

Consumer goods maker Unilever North America is investing US$15 million investment in Closed Loop Partners’ Leadership Fund to help recycle an estimated 60,000 metric tons of U.S. plastic packaging waste annually by 2025.

The investment, announced on March 16, is part of the Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based company’s plan to collect and process more plastic packaging than it sells by 2025.

Closed Loop Partners’ Leadership Fund is a private equity fund that acquires and grows companies across the value chain working to increase recycling.

“We believe plastics’ place is inside the circular economy where it is reused, and not in the environment,” said Fabian Garcia, president of Unilever North America.

Unilever’s goal to collect and process more plastic packaging than it sells is a part of its ambitious set of “Waste-Free World” commitments. Those global commitments include halving use of virgin plastic; ensuring all of its plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable; and using at least 25 per cent recycled plastic in its packaging.

Half of the 118,000 metric tons of plastic packaging used by Unilever North America is post-consumer resin (PCR) plastic. Many of its brands, including Dove, Hellmann’s, and Seventh Generation, already use 100 per cent PCR bottles. The investment in Closed Loop Partners’ Leadership Fund will help secure additional PCR plastic supply for Unilever brands and increase access to recycled plastic feedstock processed by the companies the Fund invests in.

Unilever’s Canadian operation, Unilever Canada, is headquartered in Toronto.