Abu Dhabi: Bee’ah, the Middle East’s sustainability pioneer, and Unilever Gulf, one of the region’s leading suppliers of beauty and personal care, home care, and foods and refreshment products, announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2020 to explore collaboration in an end-to-end integrated plastic recycling management system, through ambitious plans for a new recycling plant in the UAE.

Given Bee’ah’s expertise in waste management and recycling, this partnership supports UAE Vision 2021 targets to divert waste from landfills. It also supports Unilever’s latest sustainability commitments that seek to reduce its plastic waste and help create a circular economy for plastics. This is in addition to ensuring that Unilever’s plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable while it aims to use at least 25 percent recycled plastic in its packaging – all by 2025.

“Bee’ah is leading the charge for sustainability and a circular economy in the UAE. This agreement with Unilever addresses plastic pollution through a holistic approach and how Bee’ah can become a strategic partner that supports companies with their environmental, social and governance targets,” said H.E. Khaled Al Huraimel, Bee’ah Group Chief Executive Officer. “As we continue to introduce innovations that facilitate sustainable living in the UAE and the region, we welcome the chance to work with other companies and industries to tackle challenges in a collaborative manner.”

“At Unilever, we believe that our packaging is our responsibility and while plastic has its place, that place is not in the environment. We are therefore committed to collecting back more than we sell, in order to ensure the development of a circular economy locally and are delighted to partner with Bee’ah on this important agenda,” said Sanjiv Kakkar, Executive Vice President of Unilever MENA, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus & Turkey. “This supports the larger commitment we made in 2010 as a part of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan towards decoupling our environmental footprint from our growth. A circular economy ensures that the economic value of plastic is not lost whilst also creating new opportunities for increased economic activity through the creation of new business.”

As part of the agreement, both companies will explore the use of reverse vending machines to help collect plastic waste. Launched in 2011, Bee’ah’s RVMs have been a successful community development project that encourages UAE residents to leave a positive impact on the environment.

Bee’ah and Unilever will also undertake feasibility studies to jointly invest in a new plastic recycling facility, with the capacity to recycle plastic waste and produce 14,400 tonnes of recycled high-density polyethylene and polypropylene annually. Closing the loop, Unilever will be able to purchase the produced post-consumer resin to incorporate in its product packaging.

In addition to the plastic waste collection and recycling efforts, Bee’ah and Unilever will aim to collaborate towards the implementation of a community awareness outreach initiative. This involves co-developing educational content to be added on the Bee’ah School of Environment platform – which has a reach of over 250,000 students, 5,000 teachers and 1000 registered users – and to include a new category of recyclables as part of the BSOE’s Interschool Recycling Competition.

Plastic pollution has become a global waste crisis. Around 8.3 billion metric tonnes of plastics are produced globally, of which 75.9 percent become waste and only 9 percent is recycled, according to an American Association for the Advancement of Science study in 2017. If present trends continue, the study’s authors forecast around 12 billion metric tonnes of plastic will end up in landfills by 2050.

-Ends-

About Bee’ah

An innovation leader and a pioneering force for sustainable solutions in the Middle East, Bee’ah is a public-private partnership company that was founded in 2007. With ventures in industries ranging from Waste Management, to Environmental Consulting, Renewable Energy, Technology, Sustainable Transportation, and Training & Development, Bee’ah is creating a better quality of life for all cities and communities in the region. Bee’ah has executed a comprehensive strategy focused on sustainability and digitalisation, which has reaped rich benefits in the form of the region’s highest waste diversion rates, and the GCC’s first waste-to-energy plant. Bee’ah has supported the region’s agenda for a circular economy and personifies the UAE’s ambitions in leading the dialogue surrounding sustainability in the MENA region. For more information, please visit: http://www.beeah.ae  and connect at facebook.com/beeahuae and twitter.com/BeeahUAE 

About Unilever

The Unilever Gulf business operates across the counties of UAE, Kuwait, Oman & Bahrain with its head office located in the UAE.

It has a successful and competitive business across the Gulf and holds the leading position in many of the categories it operates in. Its vast portfolio covers Personal Care Products, Home Care Products as well as Foods and Refreshments. It has been the #1 Employer of Choice in the UAE for 6 consecutive years.

Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) underpins the company’s strategy and commits it to help more than a billion people globally take action to improve their health and well-being by 2020, halving the environmental impact of its products by 2030 & enhancing the livelihoods of millions of people by 2020. The USLP creates value by driving growth and trust, eliminating costs and reducing risks.

It has strong local manufacturing capabilities with 2 factories located in the UAE.  The first is the Lipton Tea factory located in Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai, exporting tea worldwide to over 50 countries. The 2nd is the Dubai Personal Care (DPC) factory - a state-of-art manufacturing unit set up in 2016 with an investment of AED 1 billion and manufacturing well known personal care brands such as Dove, Clear, Sunsilk and Vaseline. Built in line with the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan ambition it has the largest private sector solar park in the MENA region.

Unilever Gulf has been recognized with a host of awards;

  • Two time winner of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum (MRM) Business Awards in the Manufacturing (Free Zones) category.
  • Awarded Gold in the inaugural “Health & Safety Awards-2007” by EHS, the Environment, Health & Safety regulatory arm of Dubai World.
  • Winner at 7th Tatweej Leaders Awards for its excellence in world class manufacturing, business-driven sustainability practices and future-focused environmental initiatives.
  • Lipton Jebel Ali factory has been recognized for its excellence by the Japanese Institute of Plant Maintenance.
  • Recognised for its ‘slip sheet initiative’ at the 2009 Supply Chain & Transport Awards (SCATA) Awards
© Press Release 2020

Disclaimer: The contents of this press release was provided from an external third party provider. This website is not responsible for, and does not control, such external content. This content is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis and has not been edited in any way. Neither this website nor our affiliates guarantee the accuracy of or endorse the views or opinions expressed in this press release.

The press release is provided for informational purposes only. The content does not provide tax, legal or investment advice or opinion regarding the suitability, value or profitability of any particular security, portfolio or investment strategy. Neither this website nor our affiliates shall be liable for any errors or inaccuracies in the content, or for any actions taken by you in reliance thereon. You expressly agree that your use of the information within this article is at your sole risk.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, this website, its parent company, its subsidiaries, its affiliates and the respective shareholders, directors, officers, employees, agents, advertisers, content providers and licensors will not be liable (jointly or severally) to you for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, incidental, punitive or exemplary damages, including without limitation, lost profits, lost savings and lost revenues, whether in negligence, tort, contract or any other theory of liability, even if the parties have been advised of the possibility or could have foreseen any such damages.