Unilever UK and Greenredeem, which rewards people for everyday conscious actions (similar to the UK equivalent of Recyclebank), have announced a partnership aimed at increasing recycling rates and other small, positive actions in our everyday lives to live more sustainably.
The partnership, which falls under the umbrella of Unilever’s Project Sunlight initiative aimed at inspiring this generation to create a better world for the next through conscious actions, will support partner charities and look to motivate members through unique rewards from the Unilever stable of household brands — with the aim of driving recycling rates towards the EU target of 50 percent by 2020.
“We see this groundbreaking partnership as a real motivation for more local authorities to take a rewarding approach to recycling, enabling them to access a powerful partnership between the private and public sector to drive behavioral change at a local level,” said Greenredeem communications director Rob Crumbie.
As their launch campaign, Greenredeem and Unilever are inviting Greenredeem members to donate points earned through recycling efforts to Comic Relief, a charity dedicated to fighting global poverty. Headlining the campaign will be Unilever brands Persil and PG tips, which are already working closely with Comic Relief with special money-raising packs in store and are now looking to drive recycling rates at the same time.
Through Greenredeem’s 135,000-strong member base, Unilever aims to raise a further £20,000 for Comic Relief ahead of Red Nose Day, the charity’s annual TV campaign, on March 13. Not only will this donation hugely benefit the charity and its projects, it will also save 1,000 tonnes of recyclable materials from being sent to landfills across the UK — the equivalent of 50 recycling trucks — through the actions of Greenredeem members.
Unilever Project Sunlight Marketing Manager, Anna Owen, says: “We’re so excited to work with Greenredeem to drive recycling rates in the UK. It’s shocking how far the UK lags behind other nations and we see incentivizing positive action as a key mechanic to move rates forward, to meet and hopefully smash 2020 target levels. To drive behavior change we know you need to make it easy, fun and rewarding to do the right thing — and that’s just what the Greenredeem platform offers. We hope that through the partnership we can educate our consumers that they can recycle more Unilever product packaging than they may realize.
“The Red Nose Day points for donations launch campaign is a brilliant way for us to donate more to Comic Relief and encourage recycling in the process,” Owen added.
Get the latest insights, trends, and innovations to help position yourself at the forefront of sustainable business leadership—delivered straight to your inbox.
Published Feb 25, 2015 2pm EST / 11am PST / 7pm GMT / 8pm CET