Knorr in new recyclable packs to cut plastic waste

20 / 12 / 2020

By Marwa Nassar - -

Knorr bouillon powder is to be introduced in fully recyclable packs made with recycled polypropylene plastic (rPP).

This falls within the framework of Unilever’s commitment to cut virgin plastic waste under the fight against climate change.

The advanced recycling technology that makes this possible transforms low quality, mixed plastic waste that would otherwise be destined for incineration or landfill.

The rPP can be re-processed infinitely, as the closed-loop recycling method preserves the quality of the material, thus reducing the need for virgin plastic.

Unilever is aiming to produce about 1 million of these containers. That equates to saving approximately 2,000 tonnes of virgin plastic in Europe.

“Our goal is to continue making our packaging more environmentally conscious – especially in the food segment – without consumers having to lower their standards in terms of design, performance, user-friendliness and food safety,” says Mike Ross, Senior Packaging Manager at Unilever.

“Unilever is committed to cutting our use of virgin plastic in half by 2025. Turning plastic waste into circular polymer will help meet that goal. We are now testing this using material produced from 100% certified circular polymer, with the goal of expanding across our portfolio by 2025.”

The rPP used in the new Knorr containers is the product of an innovative recycling process from our partner SABIC, a global leader in diversified chemicals. The process transforms the plastic waste into a resin with the same characteristics as virgin food-grade resin. It is not currently possible to produce food-grade rPP with any other form of recycling system.

Unilever’s other partner in this initiative, Greiner Packaging – a leading European manufacturer of plastic packaging – takes SABIC’s rPP and uses it to produce the new recyclable packs.

The appearance, functionality and safety of the new packaging are the same as before and the quality is as high as ever.

These new packs from Knorr contribute to Unilever’s wider global packaging commitment to halve its use of virgin plastic by reducing our absolute use of plastic packaging by more than 100,000 tonnes and accelerating its use of recycled plastic by 2025.