Unilever has announced a $15 million investment into the Closed Loop Leadership Fund, as the company looks to recover half of its plastic packaging footprint in North America.
The Closed Loop Leadership Fund is a private equity fund focused on acquiring companies across the value chain that are looking to upgrade their recycling infrastructure and create a circular system. Unilever joins Nestlé, which invested $30 million in the initiative last year.
With its investment, Unilever aims to recycle an estimated 60,000 metric tons of US plastic packaging waste annually by 2025, equivalent to more than half of its plastics footprint in North America.
The investment forms part of Unilever’s commitment to collect and process more plastic packaging than it sells by 2025. This goal was announced as part of the company’s waste-free world commitments, which also includes halving the use of virgin plastic, ensuring all plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable, and using at least 25% recycled plastic in its packaging.
“We believe plastics’ place is inside the circular economy where it is reused, and not in the environment. We’re advocating to transform the recycling system for a waste-free world, and we urgently need business investment to help make it happen,” said Fabian Garcia, president of Unilever North America.
Ron Gonen, founder and CEO of Closed Loop Partners, said: “Unilever’s investment in Closed Loop Partners’ Leadership Fund, in addition to its existing investment in our Infrastructure Fund, will help accelerate the shift toward more circular supply chains by scaling best-in-class circular business models and supporting the technological breakthroughs and sustainable innovations that keep valuable materials continuously cycling in manufacturing supply chains.”
The investment will help secure additional PCR plastic supply for Unilever’s brands and increase its access to recycled plastic feedstock processed by the companies the Fund invests in.
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