Page 315 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

Food and Beverage Industries 291

the food industry category leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability
World Indexes for a decade. Over 40% of Unilever sales are in emerg-
ing markets, and it has established voluntary programs to promote
nutrition, health, and hygiene around the world. About 20% of the
company’s sales are in the United States, including well-known brands,
such as Hellmann’s, Ragu, and Lipton.
According to Chief Executive Patrick Cescau, “Social responsibil-
ity and environmental sustainability are core business competencies,
not fringe activities.” Unilever has come to believe that today’s social
and environmental challenges represent opportunities for innovation
and product development. For example, Unilever’s Indian subsid-
iary, Hindustan Unilever, was one of the first companies to design
products for the “base of the pyramid,” distributing affordable prod-
ucts to the hundreds of millions of poor people living in rural villages
across India [4].
Unilever’s stated mission is to “add vitality to life” by meeting
people’s needs for nutrition, hygiene, and personal care. Because of
its deep roots in local cultures and markets around the world, it has
developed strong relationships with consumers, and considers itself
a “multi-local” multinational. An example of Unilever’s environmen-
tal sustainability commitment was its announcement in 2007 that it
would purchase all its tea from sustainable, ethical sources. As a
first step, the company began working with the international envi-
ronmental organization, Rainforest Alliance, to certify its tea farms
in Africa and audit the company’s progress. Unilever is the largest
tea company in the world, and tea is the world’s most popular bev-
erage, with about five billion cups consumed daily.
One area of environmental responsibility that is common to all
food producers is packaging. Like other companies, Unilever has
worked on packaging reduction and material selection but has tried
to accomplish this within the context of the whole product system.
For example, modifying packaging to the extent that there is a risk
of compromising the product integrity may have a negative envi-
ronmental impact. Unilever has formed a Responsible Packaging
Steering Team, a global team of senior executives that leads the
development and delivery of strategies for responsible packaging,
with representation from R&D, Packaging, Marketing, Procurement,
Customer Development, and Communications, as well as regional
representatives.
An example of a Unilever packaging innovation is the introduc-
tion of microwaveable pouches for pasta sauce. Compared to glass
jars with metal lids, the total weight of the pouch including primary
and secondary packaging is 70% less. Pouches are not subject to
breakage during handling and transportation and are more conve-
nient for consumers; moreover, microwave cooking uses less energy
than cooking on a stove. Despite such success stories, Unilever