Environmentalists give cautious welcome to Unilever plastics pledge

Environmentalists have broadly welcomed an announcement by one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies that it aims to dramatically reduce the plastic waste it produces, but warned the plans may not go far enough.

Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch firm behind brands such as Axe, Dove, Ben & Jerry’s and Lipton, announced on Monday it plans to halve its use of virgin plastics by 2025.

The firm said it would cut its annual plastics footprint of 700,000 tonnes by 50%, with more than 100,000 tonnes of the reduction coming from “no plastics solutions” such as alternative materials, “naked” products, and from reduced plastics concentrations. The other two thirds of the reduction will see virgin material replaced with recycled plastics.