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
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
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
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
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
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