Energy savings with Unilever’s lighter Vaseline jar
Unilever switched from polystyrene to the better recyclable polypropene for this type of packaging. The jar is lighter in weight, which conserves 113,000 kg of plastic annually.
Unilever’s objective is to halve the volume of waste generated by disposal of its products by 2020. Unilever therefore developed a method that measures both the number of grams of packaging material, as well as product remnants in the packaging. In this process, Unilever makes use of the published national indicators for recycling and reclamation. If these are not available, Unilever uses its own estimates. The measurements are conducted based on ‘consumption per consumer’, for example, the waste associated with one portion of soup.
Unilever wished to switch from polystyrene to better recyclable polypropene for the plastic jars of Vaseline. The packaging developer recognized an opportunity to make the pot lighter in weight at the same time. This annually conserves 113,000 kg of plastic in the Netherlands. In addition, less plastic granulate has to be heated to produce each jar. Likewise, less material has to be cooled after moulding. The producer of the jars thus conserves 13,000 MW of energy annually.