Greenpeace said that the company has failed “to tackle [its] overwhelming plastic pollution” and that the protest is also due to its “recent sustainability rollback”.
Unilever announced earlier this year that it would rescind several of its plastic reduction targets.
The activists blockaded the entrance to Unilever House and locked themselves onto the barricades with enough supplies to last a full day. The barricades were made of giant Dove products with a subverted “Dead Dove” logo.
Seven climbers also scaled the building and affixed a 13 x 8 meter canvas to its façade. The artwork featured a young girl peeling back Dove’s “Real Beauty” branding to reveal what Greenpeace labelled “real examples of the toxic plastic waste churned out by the brand”.
Greenpeace calls for phase out of plastic sachets
Greenpeace is calling on Unilever to phase-out single-use plastic from its operations and transition to reuse in the next 10 years, starting with plastic sachets.
A Greenpeace International report released late last year showed that Unilever was the largest corporate seller of plastic sachets, selling the equivalent of 1700 a second. An estimated 6.4 billion sachets were produced by Unilever signature brand Dove alone in 2022, making up over 10% of Unilever’s total sachets sales.
Plastic sachets are difficult to collect and recycle and are known for exacerbating flooding when they enter the environment by jamming local waste systems and waterways. They have been labelled a “super-polluter” by Greenpeace.
Greenpeace is also calling on the company to advocate for this same level of ambition at the UN Global Plastics Treaty by backing a treaty which caps and phases down plastic production by at least 75% by 2040.
16 activists arrested
A total of 16 activists were arrested for the protest under new powers given to police as part of the Public Order Act.
Nine of the activists were cut out by police with angle grinders and arrested for locking-on – the first time Greenpeace activists have been arrested for the new offense.
Another seven were arrested for scaling the walls of the building and affixing the canvas.
Will McCallum, co-executive director at Greenpeace UK, said: “The arrest of these activists goes to show how big polluters like Unilever are hiding behind the government’s new gagging laws to carry on with their destructive behaviour. It is them, not peaceful protesters, that should be held to account.
“Whether it’s devastating flooding or toxic fumes from waste burning, the billions of pieces of plastic waste they’re pumping into the world are exacting a toll on communities far from this London office. There’s no ‘Real Beauty’ in the real harm Dove and Unilever are causing.
“We won’t let up – [yesterday’s] action may be over but our campaign against Unilever will continue to escalate unless it puts a proper plan in place to phase-out single-use plastic.
“Unilever must stop selling plastic sachets now, commit to phasing out single-use plastic within a decade and advocate for this same level of ambition at the final round of UN Global Plastics Treaty negotiations in November.”
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