Unilever fought ban on sachets it branded evil

THE boss of Unilever publicly called for “evil” plastic sachets to be phased out while the company privately lobbied against banning them, it has been revealed.

Alan Jope, the consumer goods giant’s chief executive, said the business “had to” stop using the sachets to package small portions of soap, detergent and shampoo two years ago.

He was echoing comments from another Unilever executive who had branded the disposable packets “evil, because you cannot recycle” them.

Yet behind the scenes, the company privately lobbied against bans on the packaging that had been proposed in India, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, where they were contributing to mountains of plastic waste, said Reuters.

Maja Darlington, a spokesman for Greenpeace UK, accused Unilever of “appalling hypocrisy”.

The sachets, which are used to package Unilever products such as Sunlight

‘We are exploring reusable packaging so consumers can access products at a price point they can afford’

soap, Sunsilk shampoo and Surf Excel laundry detergent, reportedly account for 10pc of the company’s global sales.

After Unilever’s lobbying efforts, India and the Philippines backed away from banning the plastic packets. Sri Lanka pressed ahead, but its government later accused Unilever of trying to evade the ban on 6mm sachets by presenting four-packs as one 24mm unit.

The plastic sachets are used in developing countries to sell small, low-cost portions of everyday products. But the packets have been blamed for creating a tsunami of plastic waste.

At an environmental event in July 2020, Mr Jope was asked about the sachets. “We have to get rid of them,” he replied. “It’s pretty much impossible to mechanically recycle.”

However, according to Anil Jasinghe, secretary of Sri Lanka’s environment ministry, in private Unilever told the Sri Lankan government that the sachets were “a poor man’s commodity” and argued against banning them.

A Unilever spokesman said: “We are working hard to address this challenge by phasing out multilayer sachets, which are difficult to recycle, and replacing them with recyclable alternatives. We continue to explore different reusable and refillable packaging systems to enable our low-income consumers to access our products at a price point they can afford.”