BRC logo scheme rejected by Unilever
Unilever will not be signing up to the British Retail Consortium's on-pack recycling logo. This follows news that Procter & Gamble also ruled out joining the scheme.
The global brand owner said that there were impracticalities associated with joining a UK-only labelling initiative.
A Unilever spokesman said, "We fully support the intentions of the BRC to raise consumers' awareness of recycling with this initiative. However, as a multinational FMCG company with brands present in dozens of different markets, it would not be appropriate for us to join a scheme which focused solely on the UK", adding, "Nevertheless, we are currently investigating ways we can further promote the recyclability of our product packaging, both in the UK and internationally."
Last week, the BRC said that its labelling would be rolled out across 50,000 product lines. Approximately fifty brand owners and retailers have signed up to carry the standardised label for packaging recycling since it was officially launched seven months ago, following trials with various companies, including Asda, since late 2007.
Still on line to achieve its target of 60 signatories in the first year, the BRC said that number of global brand owners are unlikely to sign up because their products are not packaged specifically for the UK market.
