Unilever and Kao launch plastic recycling program

Unilever Japan and Kao will launch a collaborative recycling program to help build a circular economy for plastic packaging
.
Starting June 1, 2021, the companies will collect used personal and home care product bottles in Toyama, Tokyo, and then recycle the bottles to make new ones
.

As part of Unilever Compass' growth strategy, Unilever is committed to helping create a waste-free world
.
The company aims to halve the use of virgin plastic by 2025 and help collect and process more plastic packaging than is sold
.
Since 2019, Unilever Japan has been using recycled plastic in the packaging of its products, including LUX, Dove and CLEAR
.
In addition, Unilever Japan launched the UMILE program in November 2020, which collects used packaging in retail stores, recycles it, creates novel products, and returns it to consumers in support of sustainable life
.

Kao launched its new ESG strategy, the Kirei Life>
.
The Japanese word "kirei" describes something that is both clean and beautiful
.
For Kao, Kirei encapsulates not only appearance, but attitude - creating beauty for ourselves, others, and the world around us
.
With this in mind, Kao strives to reduce the amount of plastic used for packaging
.
In September 2019, Kao announced that it aims to help realize a plastic resource recycling society through 'innovation for pollution reduction' and 'innovation for recycling'
.

Unilever Japan and Kao Group have been promoting the flow of plastic resources by winning the support of various stakeholders including consumers, retailers, recycling companies and local governments
.
However, in Japan, most plastic packaging is not recycled into new packaging
.
This is due to a variety of reasons, such as the different types of plastic used in personal and home care products depending on the manufacturer, the lack of existing infrastructure to sort and collect used plastic packaging by material type, and the lack of recyclable Recycling technology, preventing the degradation of plastic material quality during recycling,
etc.

Unilever Japan and the Kao Group are exploring ways to sort and collect used plastic packaging to make it easy for consumers to participate while maintaining commercial sustainability
.
The two companies also contributed to the development of personal and home care product packaging guidelines, which are based on the expertise gained through the program and can be shared and leveraged by different companies in different industries
.

As members of the Clean Ocean Materials Alliance of Japan (CLOMA), Unilever Japan and Kao hope to gain the understanding and cooperation of many stakeholders
.
They also aim to share the programme's experience, including product packaging guidelines, with other countries and regions as new solutions to help achieve a circular economy
.