Unilever has brought together over 100 representatives from academia, NGOs and sector companies including Mars, GSK and Sainsbury's to create a movement for change on zero waste.
Every year, according to Unilever, an estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of solid waste is collected worldwide. This is expected to increase to 2.2 billion tonnes by 2025, with almost all of the increase from developing countries.
The company sees the change on waste campaign as an opportunity for Unilever to "cascade its learnings but also to create an open discussion for what is next".
Companies attending the event entitled, 'The zero waste mindset - new ways of thinking to deliver transformational change', include Coca-Cola Enterprises, PwC, Sainsbury's, Mars, and GSK.
Speakers include Chief Supply Chain Officer at Unilever, Pier Luigi Sigismondi, mountaineer, Dave Bunting MBE, on the power of disruptive thinking and CEO of Holcim, Bernard Fontana, on the power of partnerships.
"The scale of the problem is clear and although we are very pleased with our achievement, we realise it is a drop in the ocean," said Sigismondi. "The real change is yet to come. We know from our experience of delivering zero waste to landfill in our factories that we will not succeed in driving systematic change unless we can find ways to first of all personally connect with the issue and then commit to doing more and doing it quickly."
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