Plastics while being one of the greatest inventions of our times, poses a threat to the environment and requires much thought for its safe handling and disposal. In India, 15,000 tonnes of plastics waste is generated every single day, a third of which remains uncollected.
At HUL, we believe in tackling this issue across the value chain through the principle of reduce, reuse, recycle and recover. We have committed to making 100% of our packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025. We have also committed that 25% of all the plastic we use will come from recycled sources by 2025.
HUL has done significant work in this area. In 2018, we arranged environment friendly disposal of over 20,000 tons of post-consumer use plastic laminates waste in aggregate through collection and disposal partners in more than 20 cities across India.
While infrastructure is critical to addressing this challenge, driving behaviour change to segregate waste at source is key to effectively managing plastic waste.
We have partnered with Xynteo, as part of their India2022 coalition to develop a curriculum “Plastic Safari” to create awareness and drive behaviour change on waste segregation and recycling among school children and housing communities. This was piloted last year in Dahisar in Mumbai.
Recently, we launched ‘Waste No More’ a digital curriculum for schools on the importance of waste segregation in Kolhapur district in Maharashtra with the support of the Kolhapur Zilla Parishad. This unique curriculum has elements of storytelling, do it yourself activities and real - life interviews that will give children an in-depth view into the world of waste management.
Over 150 government school teachers have been activated as master trainers to reach 2000 schools and 100,000+ students across the district this academic year.
