Unilever becomes founding signatory of the new UK Packaging Pact

This new decade‑long voluntary agreement is designed to transform the UK’s relationship with packaging and accelerate the move towards a circular economy, designing out waste by keeping products and materials in use for as long as possible. It sets out a shared vision of “better packaging for people and planet”, underpinned by collaborative action across the packaging system.

The Pact introduces four long‑term goals – to optimise packaging, scale reuse and refill, support circular infrastructure investment and harmonise data – which will allow members to set ambitious, tailored goals that align with their packaging portfolios and business priorities.

Continued progress on Plastics

Led by WRAP, the UK Packaging Pact builds on the success of the UK Plastics Pact, which ran from 2018–2025 and brought together more than 200 businesses across the plastics value chain – from manufacturers, to retailers and waste management companies - to reduce use of plastics, improve recyclability and increase the use of recycled plastic.

Over seven years, the Plastics Pact helped drive system wide progress, while also highlighting where further change is needed, particularly on flexible packaging, reuse models and infrastructure investment.

Also a founding signatory of the Plastics Pact, Unilever UK has made some good progress on plastics over this time. For example, pioneering detectable black plastic so our TRESemmé and Lynx bottles can be sorted and recycled; introducing 100% recycled plastic into some bottles across our range, including Dove, Comfort Ultimate Care, and Hellmann’s squeezy bottles; and carrying out refill and reuse trials, working closely with retail partners, to test different refill models in different store formats.

Supporting the UK’s packaging agenda

The UK Packaging Pact is designed to complement and support the UK’s evolving packaging policy landscape, including Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), Simpler Recycling (consistency in recycling collections in England) and the UK’s recycling infrastructure.

WRAP Chair, Sebastian Munden, has described this next phase as a chance to move from ambition to delivery: “A lot of progress has been made, and we know what the next steps need to look like. Working with governments across the UK and the reprocessing industry, we need to finish what we’ve started, especially on wrappers and films. There's a focus on the big wins where the whole system needs to work together, like reuse and refill.”

By bringing businesses together around shared priorities, the Pact aims to reduce complexity, accelerate innovation and help create packaging systems that work for consumers, businesses and the environment.

How the pact aligns with Unilever’s commitments

Unilever is joining the UK Packaging Pact as part of its longstanding commitment to tackling plastic and packaging waste through reduction, circulation and collaboration.

The Pact is aligned with Unilever objectives to reduce use of virgin plastic, increase recycled content and recyclability, and scale reuse and refill models where they can deliver real impact, as well as working collaboratively across the value chain to strengthen UK recycling and reuse infrastructure.