A landmark move from Anglo-Dutch giant Unilever, which has announced its intention to use only recycled, recyclable or compostable plastic for its packaging by 2025. A path that would steer the market for fast-moving consumer goods — including Svelto, Dove, Lipton, Algida, Knorr, Mentadent and many others — towards a circular economy.

Today, only 14 per cent of plastic packaging used globally reaches recycling facilities, while 40 per cent ends up in landfill and a third is dispersed into fragile ecosystems such as seas and oceans, according to data provided by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. By 2050, it is estimated that there will be more plastic than fish in the world's oceans.

Rethinking product design: recycled plastic for packaging

It is therefore essential to rethink the design of products and their packaging, so that it is no longer conceived with a throwaway, linear and highly energy-intensive mindset, but rather with a circular one — focused on reuse and transformation.

"Our plastic packaging plays a vital role in making our products attractive, safe and enjoyable for our consumers," said Paul Polman, chief executive officer of Unilever, in a statement. "But it is clear that if we want to continue to reap the benefits of this versatile material, we need to do much more as an industry to help ensure that post-consumer use is managed responsibly and efficiently."

The group has committed to remaining a member of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation — a permanent think tank on the circular economy — for a further three years. New technologies and technical solutions capable of recycling and reusing all the plastics employed will be studied and developed, and made available to the industry.

"To address the challenge of plastic waste in the ocean we need to work on systemic solutions — such as those capable of stopping plastic from entering our waterways. We hope these commitments will encourage other industry players to make collective progress to ensure that all our plastic packaging is fully recyclable and recycled."

Plastic recycling in Italy

According to the report "L'Italia del riciclo 2016" drawn up by the Fondazione Sviluppo Sostenibile, 817,000 tonnes were sent for recycling in 2015, a figure representing 41 per cent of the amount placed on the market. A considerable share, and one of the best in Europe. "At European level," the report reads, "Italy is among the few countries that manage the recycling/recovery of all plastic packaging. Other European countries limit themselves solely to those that are easier to recycle, such as PET bottles and HDPE containers. While the Italian approach entails the need to send a portion of the collected material for energy recovery — namely packaging that, due to the type of polymer or the complexity of its manufacture, cannot yet be recycled — this choice is proving to be a winning one in the long term, because the availability of the raw material (the packaging to be sent for recycling) has acted as a driver for the development of the downstream supply chain, giving rise to and boosting recycling companies and processing companies capable of using recycled polymers to produce new goods."