Climate
We are working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in our operations and across our wider value chain.
Unilever’s sustainability targets help to strengthen the long-term resilience of our business, ensuring focus in the areas where we believe we can make the biggest contribution. Discover how we’re taking action on our four priority sustainability focus areas: climate, nature, plastics and livelihoods.
Transforming packaging systems requires innovation, infrastructure and collaboration across the value chain. We’re focusing on three key areas:
Reduction: Reducing our virgin plastic footprint
Circulation: Designing for reuse, refill and recycling, and helping to develop the waste management infrastructure necessary for these systems to work
Collaboration: Working with partners across the packaging value chain and advocating for well-designed, harmonised regulations on plastic
Why tackling plastic waste matters for Unilever
Why tackling plastic waste matters for Unilever
Packaging plays a vital role in providing safe, effective and desirable products to consumers. According to OECD projections, global plastic waste will almost triple by 2060 and plastic leakage to the environment will double under current policies.[a]
How Unilever is taking action on plastics
How Unilever is taking action on plastics
Through our ‘reduce, circulate, collaborate’ strategy, we’re changing how our packaging is sourced, designed, used and disposed of.
Our portfolio includes two main types of plastic packaging: rigids, such as bottles and jars, which account for 72% of our portfolio, and flexibles, such as pouches, sachets and films, which account for 28%.[b]
For rigids, our focus is on identifying ways to use less plastic packaging and improving recyclability.
For flexibles, we’re working with industry partners to accelerate the deployment of paper-based flexible packaging, alongside other solutions like reuse and refill models.
Building on our plastics progress
Building on our plastics progress
Having increased our investment in packaging research and development, we continue to make progress towards our multi-year plastics sustainability targets.
By the end of 2025, within the scope of our plastics targets[b] [e], we had:
- Reduced our virgin plastic footprint by 29% against a 2019 baseline.[c]
- Used post-consumer recycled plastic for 25% of the plastic in our packaging.
- Made 57% of our plastic packaging reusable, actually recyclable or compostable, including 75% of rigid plastic packaging and 15% of flexible plastic packaging.[d]
- Reported collection and processing volumes equivalent to 111% of the plastic packaging sold.[f]
See our Annual Report and Accounts (PDF 6.16 MB) for definitions, methodology, scope and boundaries.
Our focus now is on:
- Accelerating the deployment of paper-based flexible packaging.
- Further reducing our virgin plastic use through increased use of post-consumer recycled plastic, lightweighting and alternative packaging formats and materials.
- Increasing the proportion of our plastic packaging that is reusable, recyclable or compostable.
- Continuing voluntary partnerships and targeted investments that support waste collection and recycling infrastructure.
These priorities are overseen by a Sustainability Steering Committee made up of members of Unilever’s Leadership Executive and other senior executives, and embedded in our business plans.
Reducing our use of virgin plastic
The main driver for achieving this target was Unilever's increased use of post-consumer recycled plastic. Lightweighting and alternative formats also contributed to our virgin plastic reduction performance.
Making more packaging reusable and recyclable
Making more packaging reusable and recyclable
We’re identifying opportunities to design packaging to support reuse, refill and recycling.
We’re expanding at-home reuse–refill options and working with other companies and partners to test shared reuse systems on a larger scale.
Alongside this, we make targeted voluntary investments in collection and recycling infrastructure, including through Circulate Capital, and advocate for improvements to collection, sorting and recycling systems.
Accelerating the deployment of paper-based flexible packaging
Accelerating the deployment of paper-based flexible packaging
Hard-to-recycle flexible plastic packaging remains one of the consumer-goods industry’s most complex environmental challenges. We recognise that companies like Unilever have a responsibility to help solve this challenge. At the same time, plastic waste is a systems challenge, shaped by demand for affordable products, gaps in collection and recycling systems, public policy and how packaging is disposed of after use. Making progress therefore requires shared responsibility and coordinated action across the value chain.
There is no single solution. Where elimination through reuse and refill isn't feasible, alternative materials will also be required.
Paper-based flexible packaging is one alternative we are actively exploring for some hard-to-recycle plastic flexibles. Developing these solutions is one of the most technically complex challenges facing our industry. Packaging must continue to deliver the performance, affordability and consumer experience people expect, while reducing environmental impact.
That is why we have increased our investment in packaging R&D, built a specialist team of around 60 packaging scientists, engineers and technical experts, and tested more than 3,000 materials, and are working with partners to advance the science, test solutions in the real world and work with peers, NGOs and the waste management industry to create the conditions needed for paper-based flexible packaging to scale responsibly.
Unilever is one of more than 45 businesses, NGOs, investors and academics to have recently endorsed the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s paper-based flexible packaging report which sets out a clear framework for a responsible material transition.
We are also a founding member of the PaperFlex Consortium, which brings together leading consumer-goods companies to accelerate innovation, generate shared learning and create the conditions needed to scale responsibly designed paper-based flexible packaging. At the same time, waste management infrastructure must evolve to reduce waste -Unilever is supporting this.
Advocating for industry-wide plastics action and enabling policy
Advocating for industry-wide plastics action and enabling policy
Industry commitments and voluntary initiatives have helped drive meaningful progress in key areas of plastic packaging.[g] However, further progress depends on coordinated efforts across the value chain and effective policy frameworks that can provide greater consistency, support investment and enable solutions to be adopted more widely.
In multiple markets that require such regulation to tackle plastic, we support the development and implementation of mandatory, well-designed extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes that are fair, inclusive and hold businesses accountable for their packaging choices.
With the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty, we’re advocating for harmonised global regulations on plastic to mobilise investment and drive innovation to reduce plastic waste.
How we’re tackling the plastics challenge
We’re working to reduce plastic waste by collaborating with others, reducing our use of virgin plastic, and finding ways to help keep more of our packaging out of the environment.
To help us do this, we have set time-bound targets in key areas, such as reducing virgin plastic use and tackling hard-to-recycle flexible plastic.
Target: Reduce our virgin plastic footprint by 30% by 2026 and by 40% by 2028, against a 2019 baseline.
- By the end of 2025 we had reduced our use of virgin plastic for product packaging by 29% versus 2019.[c] This represents a reduction of 6% compared with 2024, primarily through expanded use of recycled plastic.
- Lightweighting innovations and scaling alternative packaging formats that remove plastic from our packaging remain critical levers in reducing virgin plastic.
Target: Use 25% recycled plastic in our packaging by 2025.
We increased our use of post-consumer recycled plastic in 2025, achieving our target of 25% post-consumer recycled plastics out of the total plastic used in our packaging.
- This represents an increase of 4% compared to 2024.
- This was achieved through technical innovation and close supplier collaboration.
- Recycled plastic remains an important lever in reducing virgin plastic.
Target: 100% of our plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2030 for rigids and by 2035 for flexibles.
- In 2025, 57% of our plastic packaging was reusable, actually recyclable, or compostable within the target scope.[d] Overall performance was comparable with 2024.
- Our portfolio is composed of rigid plastic packaging and flexible plastic packaging. In 2025:
- 75% of our rigid plastic packaging met our criteria for being reusable, recyclable or compostable.
- 15% of our flexible plastic packaging met our criteria for being reusable, recyclable or compostable, an increase of two percentage points compared with 2024.
- Packaging innovation is helping to drive progress on rigids, but our focus is on developing alternatives for hard-to-recycle flexible packaging, including plastic sachets.
- We continue to develop innovative packaging solutions that are reusable, recyclable or compostable.
Target: Collect and process more plastic packaging than we sell by 2025.
- In 2025, reported collection and processing volumes were equivalent to 111% of the plastic packaging sold within the target scope.[f]
- The reported result comprises three categories:
- Voluntary collection and processing through strategic partnerships and programmes
- Post-consumer recycled plastic purchased by Unilever
- Volumes reported through mandatory Extended Producer Responsibility schemes
- We continue to work to improve recyclability in practice and at scale[d].
See our Annual Report and Accounts (PDF 6.16 MB) for more on progress against our targets in 2025, including definitions, methodology, scope and boundaries.
What is Unilever’s plastic packaging footprint?
Approximately 72% of our total plastic packaging footprint is rigid, while flexible plastic packaging makes up the remaining 28%. Percentages are based on our plastic packaging weight (tonnes) from 1 January to 31 December 2025.[b]
Reduction: using less virgin plastic
Unilever is working to reduce virgin plastic by:
Increasing recycled plastic content
Lightweighting packaging
Switching to alternative materials, like paper
Developing alternative packaging formats and models, like reuse and refill
Innovating alternative packaging materials
There are different ways we can reduce or replace virgin plastic in our packaging – including increasing recycled plastic content, lightweighting where product safety and performance requirements allow, and using alternative packaging materials such as glass, aluminium or paper.
Packaging materials must be tailored to different conditions and geographies, and also to the specific formulations and packaging needs of our diverse product portfolio. For example, when developing paper-based pots for Pot Noodle in the UK, our Packaging R&D team had to ensure the packaging maintained its durability throughout the lifecycle – from transportation to the cooking process.
Developing next-generation paper-based flexible packaging
Engineering paper to perform like plastic is a complex material science challenge. Alternatives must deliver the right strength, barrier performance and product protection, while also being responsibly sourced and designed to avoid replacing one set of problems for another.
Our long-term aim is to develop and deploy paper-based flexible packaging that is recyclable and/or compostable under clearly specified conditions.[d] These characteristics are assessed separately and depend on the design of the packaging and the infrastructure available in the market. Our Packaging R&D teams have been testing a wide range of solutions, including bio-sourced, microbe-derived and ultra-thin plastic-free coatings.
Bringing more paper-based flexibles to market will require a step-change in the packaging industry, shared learning, economies of scale and infrastructure development. To reduce plastic now, we’re introducing some early-stage, ‘less plastic’ solutions – such as paper–plastic laminates. We’re starting with solid and powdered products. For example, in the last few years we launched paper-based stock cube wrappers for Knorr in the UK and Cup-A-Soup pouches in Europe. These launches are helping us better understand how to source, manufacture and distribute paper-based flexibles, as we work to adapt our factory lines and shift our supply chains.
Increasing recycled plastic use
In 2025, we achieved our target to use post-consumer recycled plastic for 25% of the total plastic used in our packaging.[b] We purchased more than 152 kilotonnes of recycled plastic for our packaging, more than three times the amount purchased in 2019.[b] Wonder Wash laundry detergent bottles in the UK are now being made with high levels of post-consumer recycled plastic.
Sourcing and scaling high-quality post-consumer recycled plastic is a complex challenge. Recycled plastic must meet the same high standards for safety and durability as virgin plastic. For example, Domestos packaging must withstand powerful bleach formulation without affecting the packaging’s integrity and safety.
Our Packaging R&D and Procurement teams work with suppliers to co-develop improved recycling and manufacturing processes, efficiency and material quality. In the US, Canada and Brazil, for example, we built new capabilities in sorting, cleaning and blending recycled plastic resins. We also use advanced digital testing and modelling tools that can predict the colour and performance of the recycled plastic packaging we use. This reduces the need for physical prototypes and can shorten packaging development time.
Investing in and advocating for infrastructure
To support the availability of recycled plastic, we invest in collection and recycling infrastructure through partners such as Circulate Capital, which supports businesses that are expanding plastic collection, recycling and recycled-material supply chains, including in South and Southeast Asia and Latin America, where recycling infrastructure is often less developed.
These investments are intended to accelerate the development of collection and processing infrastructure, increase the availability of recycled plastics and support our efforts to reduce virgin plastic use in packaging.
Alongside this, we advocate for well-designed extended producer responsibility schemes to unlock investment, strengthen recycling systems and help build more competitive markets for recycled content.
Developing alternative packaging formats and models
We’re expanding at-home reuse–refill options through our deodorant brands like Dove and Wild. In the UK, Cif’s Infinite Clean all-in-one spray features a premium reusable trigger designed for repeated use with reload bottles. In Indonesia, we have a growing network of more than 2,500 refill outlets offering Home Care products from brands like Rinso, Sunlight and Wipol.
We’ve learnt changing consumer habits takes time, and what works in one place might not work in another. Scaling new packaging formats and models requires action across the value chain – from brands and retailers to waste management and policymakers.
That’s why we’ve been trialing a variety of reuse-refill models across our portfolio – building expertise, testing, and learning from different approaches.
Circulation: more reusable, recyclable, compostable packaging
Where plastic remains in our packaging, we need to keep it out of the environment and in circulation. We’re working to reduce waste by working to make our packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable.[d]
Recyclable packaging
Our biggest challenge when it comes to recyclability is finding viable and scalable replacements for things that are hard to recycle, like plastic sachets, bottle pumps and spray triggers. Our rigid and flexible packaging types pose unique challenges, so we’re taking different approaches and have set different targets for each.
When it comes to rigid packaging – things like bottle caps and spray pumps – we’re designing for recycling while also working to increase actual recyclability, in practice and at scale. For example, we’re rolling out mono-material plastic pumps and triggers across our brands, including TRESemmé, Vaseline and Cif.
Collecting and processing packaging
In 2025, reported collection and processing volumes were equivalent to 111% of plastic packaging sold within the target scope. Twelve countries reported rates of 100% or more.[b] [f]
Designing our packaging for recycling is only the first step. Our teams work with governments, municipalities, waste management companies, recyclers, community-based collectors and NGOs to expand collection, improve sorting and connect collected material to buyers.
In many countries, plastic collection is part of an informal economy. The people doing this work are an integral part of the solution – without them, plastic collection cannot scale. We have several programmes in place. For example, in India, we launched Project Utthaan, which focuses on linking waste workers with government social protection schemes. In Vietnam, our partnership with VietCycle has provided training, PPE and other support to more than 3,000 waste collectors since 2021.
We’re also working with peers, experts and NGOs to help support a socially just circular economy for plastics. Through the Fair Circularity Initiative, we aim to advance and adopt the initiative’s 10 Fair Circularity Principles.
Collaboration: a collective effort on plastic
If there’s one thing we’ve learnt from our efforts on plastic over the years, it’s that collaboration is essential – across industries and with governments, innovators and coalitions of change. Our own targets and wider industry initiatives can only go so far. We’re working closely with others to accelerate more widescale changes to regulations, systems and infrastructure.
Partnering for a circular plastics economy
We’re long-term collaborators with a number of organisations, including the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. In 2018, we were among the first to sign the Global Commitment – the world’s largest voluntary effort on plastic waste, now uniting over 1,200 businesses representing 20% of the global plastic packaging market.
In 2025, we endorsed both the 2030 Global Commitment and the Plastics Agenda for Business, calling for whole-industry action, collaboration and regulations to accelerate progress.
In 2026, Unilever joined the PaperFlex Consortium as a founding member. A key initiative of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, it also includes industry peers Colgate-Palmolive, Mars, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble. It aims to accelerate the development and scaling of responsibly designed paper-based flexible packaging through an R&D partnership focused on markets with limited formal collection and recycling systems. It is guided by a dual end-of-life ambition covering both recyclability and biodegradability.
Advocating for harmonised plastics regulations
We joined the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty – an advocacy group convened by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) – to support the development of a plastic treaty alongside more than 250 other brand owners, retailers, financial institutions, packaging producers and waste management companies.
Despite limited progress at the latest plastics treaty negotiations, we remain committed to advocating for harmonised regulatory frameworks for plastics across markets – such as effective, locally tailored extended producer responsibility programmes.
Supporting extended producer responsibility
Extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes can strengthen recycling systems by ensuring that funding is reinvested into waste management and packaging innovation. They can also give governments and the wider value chain better visibility of what packaging is placed on the market, and how it’s managed.
Unilever supports the development and implementation of mandatory and well-designed EPR policies in multiple markets that require such regulation to tackle plastic waste, where the schemes are fair and aligned with industry standards.
Our other sustainability priorities
Nature
We are collaborating with partners and communities across priority agricultural sourcing regions, landscapes, and factories in high water-stress areas.
Livelihoods
We are helping to support the livelihoods of people in our value chain through our smallholder farmer, small retailer and living wage programmes.
[a]
Source: OECD - Global Plastics Outlook: Policy Scenarios to 2060.
[b]
(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) Portfolio and target scope: portfolio percentages are based on the weight in tonnes of our global plastic packaging portfolio from 1 January to 31 December 2025. Following the demerger of the Ice Cream business on 6 December 2025, the targets and reported performance relate to Unilever’s continuing operations. The scope of our plastic packaging targets includes plastic packaging in 26 countries, which account for approximately 82% of Unilever’s sales. See our 2025 Annual Report and Accounts (PDF 6.16 MB) for the full scope and reporting boundaries.
[c]
(1, 2, 3) Virgin plastic target: virgin plastic packaging means plastic derived from fossil-fuel or bio-based sources that has not previously been recycled. In the context of this target, “lightweighting” is defined as reducing the amount of packaging material used, particularly plastic, while maintaining the safety, quality, functionality and performance of the product and its packaging. The 2019 virgin plastic baseline is estimated using plastic packaging purchased in the target countries set out in [b] above and changes in product sales volumes. See our 2025 Annual Report and Accounts (PDF 6.16 MB) for the full methodology.
[d]
(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) Reusable, recyclable or compostable plastic packaging target: “actual recyclability” means that packaging is technically recyclable and there are established examples of recycling the material in the region where it is sold. “Reusable” and “compostable” are assessed using Unilever’s reporting methodology, as described in the 2025 Annual Report and Accounts (PDF 6.16 MB). These are Unilever-specific reporting definitions and may differ from definitions under applicable laws in individual jurisdictions.
[e]
(1, 2) Unilever may be subject to mandatory obligations relating to packaging waste minimisation, packaging design, recycled content, recyclability, collection and processing under the laws of various jurisdictions. Compliance with those obligations may contribute to progress reported against the targets on this page. While reported progress may therefore reflect both compliance and voluntary action, Unilever’s packaging targets are intended to support progress beyond applicable legal requirements in a number of areas, including through earlier action, more ambitious objectives or broader geographic coverage.
[f]
(1, 2, 3) Collection and processing target: this result uses the reporting scope described in [b]. Collection and processing performance includes post-consumer recycled plastic purchased by Unilever; plastic packaging collected through qualifying voluntary programmes and partnerships; and reused or recovered plastic in countries where Unilever helps to fund municipally operated EPR schemes. Bottle collection is excluded to avoid double-counting with post-consumer recycled plastic. The result includes volumes reported through mandatory EPR schemes and does not represent voluntary Unilever activity alone. See our 2025 Annual Report and Accounts (PDF 6.16 MB) for the full methodology.
[g]
According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, by the end of 2025, Global Commitment signatories representing 20% of all plastic packaging had outperformed the rest of the market across all target areas where comparable data exists. Together, they avoided the use of 14 million tonnes of virgin plastics and tripled their use of recycled content. The Global Commitment was established in collaboration with the UN Environment Programme and is the largest global voluntary effort on plastic waste.