A plastic repositioning at Unilever

Posted on 11 Oct 2024 by Tom St John

At Unilever’s Global Packaging R&D Centre, significant investment is going into developing new sustainable packaging materials and technologies. At a media roundtable this week, we were told how the company plans to accelerate the delivery of its plastic goals.

The ambition is an end to plastic pollution. This won’t just be achieved through reduction, but also through circulation and collaboration. Unilever’s Global Packaging R&D Centre is home to a specialist team of experts dedicated to making this vision a reality.

The company says its more than doubled its investment in materials science and technology in recent years. In-house expertise has also seen a boost, as Unilever accelerates delivery against its ambitious plastic targets.

“Our plastic progress is industry-leading, but we cannot be complacent,” explains Pablo Costa, Global Head of Packaging. “That’s why we’re now taking materials science into our own hands. Our aim is to optimise what we can do in-house, while working end-to-end with our partners and peers to bring these solutions to market.”

Increasing use of recycled plastic content

There’s a growing acceptance that plastic as a material can’t be eradicated completely, and that the real issues arise with where discarded plastic ends up. In this case, incorporating more post-consumer recycled (PCR) content into packaging is key to reducing Unilever’s virgin plastic use.

But it’s not simply a case of swapping one for the other, it’s a complex technical challenge. The recycled plastic being used here undergoes rigorous testing and quality checks to ensure the packaging looks and performs like virgin plastic.

For example, it still needs to smell fresh, and colours still need to be bright and appealing to consumers.  This year, Unilever’s Packaging R&D team characterised 160 grades of recycled plastic content to create a digital tool that can predict packaging colour, eliminating the need to create a physical prototype with recycled materials just to see what it will look like.

A plastic repositioning at Unilever, Pic 3

 

We were told that this is saving a huge amount of time and resource, cutting development time by around 25%. Then there’s also the Advanced Manufacturing Centre – the company’s pilot-scale plant for in-house testing – to optimise its materials and designs virtually before bringing them to market. This further reduces the need for physical tests and factory trials, and helps ensure that packaging is then fit for wide-scale factory roll out.

Next-generation flexible materials

As part of the goal to make 100% of its flexible plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2035, a range of solutions are being worked on at Unilever. The approach is to first eliminate non-essential packaging by scaling alternative product formats and business models.

But, as the company are aware, this takes more time and systemic change, so material alternatives to flexible plastic are also being advanced. Through the ‘Future Flexibles’ programme, materials are being developed – for things like pouches and sachets – that are both recyclable and compostable. This means designing materials that are compatible with recycling systems and naturally biodegradable.

Right now, paper is the only widely recyclable and compostable packaging material on the market. Paper on its own, however, is insufficient as a packaging material. It has low barrier properties, it rips easily in industrial production settings and it doesn’t melt, which makes sealing the pack extra challenging.

A plastic repositioning at Unilever - pic 1

 

This is why many paper packaging solutions today often require a thin layer of plastic film to provide barrier protection, and seal and protect the product inside.

“Packaging liquid products like laundry detergent and shampoo in paper is one of the most technically complex challenges we’re tackling in R&D,” explains Pablo. “They have higher barrier requirements compared to dry products.

“The solution lies in removing the plastic film layer by developing material alternatives that can still seal the packaging and provide barrier protection, without impacting its recyclability and natural biodegradability.”

The Packaging R&D team sound like they have their work cut out, constantly evaluating emerging materials and technologies. To date, we were told that over 3,000 technologies have been assessed, including those from other industry sectors, like pharmaceuticals and electronics, that are not currently used in packaging.

As new innovations continue to be scouted, work has begun with partners to adapt and test the most promising on a broad portfolio.

“Switching to recyclable and compostable paper flexibles will require major industry transformation,” Pablo says. “There are no quick fixes. But we’re already starting work to prepare our supply chain, and our consumers, for the transition.”

A plastic repositioning at Unilever, Pic 4

 

Part of a bigger picture

Unilever says that creating new sustainable materials and technologies goes hand-in-hand with the work to develop and deploy entirely new packaging formats and scalable reuse–refill models.

A call for systems change also continues to sound, as after all, voluntary action by businesses is insufficient to turn the tide on plastic pollution. Ambitious, coordinated policy measures across the full plastic life-cycle that help scale solutions and ensure all businesses play by the same rules are greatly needed.

“Only by working together will we scale alternative materials, formats and models and get closer to delivering our goals,” says Pablo. “We’re all in when it comes to leading this change.”


Visit our Sustainability section for more stories like this