SPECIAL REPORT: Unilever vowed to scrap polluting plastic packets, then fought to keep them

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A Reuters report says sachets have helped fuel a global waste crisis. Sachets are nearly impossible to recycle and aren't biodegradable. They're littering neighborhoods, jamming garbage dumps, choking waterways and harming wild creatures.

Through the development of sachets, Hernandez said big brands “appropriated it with plastic packaging to foster and promote loyalty to their products.”Faced with a wave of plastic bans and polluter-pays laws globally, consumer brands and plastic makers have launched dozens of voluntary initiatives over the last decade which they say will help reduce plastic waste. Yet this pollution gets worse every year.

At Unilever’s annual general meeting on May 4, CEO Jope was harangued about the firm’s continued use of sachets by London-headquartered nonprofit ClientEarth, which had temporarily borrowed shares from an activist investor in order to voice its concerns at the high-profile event. Land creatures, too, are suffering, said Nihal Pushpakumara, a wildlife veterinarian based in the Amapara region, 130 miles east of Colombo. He said around 20 elephants have died over the last eight years after eating plastic from an open landfill there, autopsies on these giants have revealed.

Unilever told Reuters that despite the environmental downsides of sachets, they provide the poor with access toSome low-income consumers dispute that claim. Unilever’s Jope said in a tweet on July 31, 2019 – six months after he became CEO – that the company was looking at ways to help people buy one container to be used “over and over again.” Along with the hashtag #ReuseRevolution, the post linked to a press release touting efforts such as refill vending machines planned for the Philippines to dispense shampoo and hair conditioner.

The following month, the bill moved to the Senate to be reconciled with other proposed plastic regulations. Helming that effort was Cynthia Villar, the influential chairperson of the Senate Committee on the Environment and a member of a political family dynasty in the Philippines.Global solo rower: Philippines catches other countries’ plastic waste

The measure was ratified by Congress on May 26 and now needs the signature of the nation’s president to come into force. They range from 5 million pesos to 20 million pesos for serial offenders. Unilever posted global revenue of 52 billion euros last year. Those rules were amended in 2018 to exempt packaging that could be “recovered” for energy. It’s a suggestion that arose from a meeting between industry associations and representatives of India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in late 2017, minutes from the meeting show.

 

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[EXPLAINER] Plastic sachets: As big brands cashed in, a waste crisis spiraledA Reuters investigation has found that London-listed Unilever plc, a pioneer in selling sachets, has privately fought to derail bans on the problematic packaging despite saying publicly it wants to 'get rid of' them. Here's what you need to know about sachets. Reuters is corrupt like the Marcos family
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