Water in Unilever’s Sustainable Development Approach

1. Water in Unilever’s
Sustainable development
approach
GIN 2009, American International School of Rotterdam
Marti van Liere
2nd October 2009

2. Our brands
160 million times a day, someone will choose one of our
foods, home or personal care brands

3. Our approach to sustainability
• We have studied the footprint and impact of our
business on society and the environment
• We aim to minimise negative impacts in our own
manufacturing, eg water use, CO2 emissions,
sustainable production of tea, tomatoes etc.
• We aim to maximise positive impacts of our products
and our business on the health and wellbeing of the
population
• www.unilever.com/sustainability

4. Water
A shared resource

5. A shared resource
• Water scarcity is a growing global concern
• We are reducing water use in our own manufacturing
• Our water footprint prompts us to focus on areas of
biggest impact – water use by consumers and
agricultural suppliers
• We are designing products that need less water
• We are working with agricultural suppliers to reduce
their water use via our Sustainable Agriculture
Programme

6. Understanding our water footprint
We estimate that our manufacturing makes up
less than 5% of our total water footprint

7. Reducing water use in manufacturing

8. Working with our suppliers
• Water is one of 11 indicators tracked through our
Sustainable Agriculture Programme
• Water wastage and evaporation can be cut down
using drip irrigation to deliver water exactly where it is
needed
– reduces water use by up to 30% for tomatoes in
Brazil
– trials on tea in Tanzania show it can reduce water
by 10% – equivalent to saving 700 million litres of
water if implemented on a 3,000 hectare farm

9. Health, hygiene
& well-being
Changing habits,
saving lives

10. Changing habits, saving lives
• Water is a scarce resource also from a health and hygiene
perspective
• Preventable diseases resulting from poor hygiene and sanitation
pose significant health challenges around the world
• Our brands deliver health benefits and promote well-being - but
quality products alone are not enough if people do not change
their habits
• Our campaigns promote behaviour change to
– make a positive difference to health
– grow our business

11. Providing safe drinking water
80% of all diseases in developing and emerging
countries are waterborne, killing 2 million
children a year
• Many major diseases in D&E countries are waterborne
• Contamination of drinking water by germs
(viruses, bacteria, and parasites)
• Widespread Government and consumer concern
• Cost of implementing clean piped water infrastructure is
prohibitive

12. Widespread drinking water contamination
Urban areas Rural areas
• Inadequate municipal water • Groundwater contaminated due to:
pre-treatment and sewage disposal • Open defecation
• Deep pit latrines
• Water and sewage pipes in parallel • Septic tanks close to wells
• Compounded by • Contamination of handpumps
• Lack of water pressure in pipes
• Unauthorised tapping into pipes
• Storage tanks not cleaned in apartments • Contamination due to human handling
• Supplemental ground water not treated

13. Concerned consumers are making various
compromises on efficacy / convenience / cost
- education is key
• Boiling
– Cumbersome
– Time consuming
– Energy intensive – rising costs
– Poor taste
– Expensive
• Bottled water
– Expensive
– Environmental concerns
• Standalone filters
– Typically do not deliver adequate
bacteria, virus and parasite kill/removal
• Ultraviolet / reverse osmosis purifiers
– Dependent on electricity & pressurised pipe water
– Expensive

14. Unilever Pureit
A breakthrough innovation
• Complete germ protection
• No harmful viruses, bacteria, parasites
• Has an end-of-life indicator,
and an auto switch-off mechanism
• Safe water …. anytime, anywhere
• Works without electricity, pressurized piped water
• Meets the US Environmental Protection Agency’s
germ kill criteria for untreated water
• Great tasting, clear, odour-free water
• Sachet in development for emergency relief

15. Pureit : Affordable and sustainable protection
India
• Purifier is Rs 2000.
• Four litres of water that’s ‘as safe as boiled water’ for just
one rupee
• Replacement Germkill Battery Kit TM is Rs 350 purifying
1500 litres of water
• Protecting 2 million homes in India – 10 million people
Euro Comparison
• Purifier is €32 working out at €0.004c per litre

16. School Program with UNICEF
Key Objectives
• bring safe drinking water to school children
• makes concerned schools self sufficient with respect to ongoing
maintenance cost
• improving safe water as well as overall hygiene awareness amongst school
children and concerned local communities
Experience so far: Safe water rapidly brought to 100 government schools, and
100 anganwaris, protecting 15,000 children from low income homes

17. Key Findings from School Intervention
• Avg. consumption per child per day – 0.3 ltr / one purifier sufficient for about 50 children
• System for ongoing maintenance established
• Qualitative assessment through teachers and stake-holders
• improvement in attendance amongst students
• Generic awareness amongst students
• Many small purifiers in a school better than one big purification unit
Easier access for children between class breaks
Units placed next to class room – strong ownership by teachers and students who take
turns in being water / hygiene experts
Because there are multiple units there is no risk of not having safe water due to one unit
being out of operation
• Immediate startup possible – no lead time to setup; no issues of finding appropriate space
• Not having to need any technical maintenance is important in ensuring sustainability
• Local authorities and parents come together to fund the ongoing costs of the consumable
components

18. Encouraging behaviour change
• Promoting better health and hygiene through simple,
everyday steps, eg washing hands with soap to
prevent disease, brushing day and night with fluoride
toothpaste
• Our smart technology helps monitor and
evaluate handwashing and tooth brushing habits
• Integrating hygiene, water and sanitation as well as
nutrition interventions in schools and communities

19. Our defined Social Mission for the next 5 years
To bring safety, security and health to 5 Billion people
through the active promotion of handwashing with soap

20. Lifebuoy
An Overview
• + 100 years of hygiene protection
• World’s Largest health Soap
– 2.3 Billion bars sold annually
• How are we different
– Accessible pricing. 30-40%
cheaper than competition
– Bringing health to those who
need it most
– Enjoyable World class products

21. Visible commitment to action
Approaches
Hygiene Education : Swasthya Chetna
– Rural Hygiene promotion projects in
India
– Reaching 125 million + people in 6
years
Advocacy: Global Hand Washing day
Capacity Building: In Safe hands
– in partnership with the WSP-World
Bank, LSHTM

22. SWASTHYA
CHETNA

23. One of our best example of commitment :
Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna
The largest sustained rural direct contact program in the world
• Since 2002
• 50,671 Villages in
9 states
• 120 Million+ rural
Indians touched

25. “Global Handwashing Day” – 15th of October
of every year which is now mandated by the
UN

26. EVALUATION 2008 - Snapshot
75 COUNTRIES HAD HANDWASHING
ACTIVITIES TAKING PLACE ON THE DAY
A WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT FOR THE MOST
PEOPLE WASHING THEIR HANDS AT THE SAME
TIME
46 PARTNERS ACROSS THE GLOBE INVOLVED IN
THE DAY
23 LIFEBUOY MARKETS HAD A PRESENCE IN
THE FIRST EVER GLOBAL HANDWASHING DAY