Unilever Sustainable Living Plan: india
improving health and well-being
We provide millions of Indians with a great variety of
affordable, quality products which help improve their diet,
lifestyle and overall health and well-being.
HEALTH AND HYGIENE
Products such as soap and toothpaste can
help prevent disease and improve health
and well-being. But this relies on people
improving their everyday habits.
Provide safe drinking water
80% of diseases in developing countries like India come
from unsafe drinking water.
Our Pureit water purifier provides water 'as safe as boiled'
without the need of electricity or pressurized tap water.
It protects more than 15 million people in 3 million
households in India. The Government of India's premier
health assessment agency, the National Institute of
Epidemiology (NIE), conducted a year-long scientific study
and established that homes using Pureit had a 50% lower
incidence of diarrhoea.
We work with UNICEF to offer safe drinking water in
schools and day-care centres in low-income communities
in southern India.
Reduce diarrhoeal and respiratory disease
Studies show that washing hands with soap is one of the
most effective and inexpensive ways of preventing diseases.
Our Lifebuoy soap brand leads our hand-washing
campaign: Lifebuoy's Swasthya Chetna. This is the single
largest private rural health and hygiene educational
programme undertaken in India to educate people about
basic hygiene habits. Since 2002, the project has touched
more than 120 million people in India.
Lifebuoy, in partnership with a coalition of public health
and NGO partners, launched the inaugural Global Hand
wash Day in India on October 15, 2008. In 2010, over 750
employees volunteered and went to various municipal
schools in Mumbai to encourage children to inculcate
the habit of hand-washing with soap.
Improve oral health
Scientific research has shown that brushing teeth twice a
day, with fluoride toothpaste, can reduce tooth decay by
up to 50% in children, compared to only brushing once.
In 2009, our oral care brand Pepsodent went to 180 schools
across the country to educate more than 1,50,000 kids about
the 'right brushing, night brushing' practice. Pepsodent is
endorsed by FDI, the largest dental association globally.
nutrition
Through our products and partnerships
we aim to make a difference to the quality
of people's diets, helping to tackle both
over- and under-nutrition.
Improve nutrition through daily habits
Brooke Bond's Sehatmand, a tea with vitamins,
has been launched to address the nutrition needs of
low-income consumers.
Three cups of Sehatmand tea provide 50% of the RDA
of key B vitamins (B2, B6, B9 and B12).
An on-ground campaign called 'Sehatmand Parivaar –
Sehatmand Bharat', led by major NGOs, such as Pahal,
and civil society groups, was launched in a few states
with the mission to educate people on how to combat
micro-nutrient deficiency related problems with proper
health and nutrition, reaching villages in collaboration
with gram panchayats.
Reduce calories
To cater to the needs of the growing number of health
conscious people who will not compromise on great taste,
Kwality Wall's, our ice cream brand, in its 'selection' range
offers product formats which deliver less than 99 Kcal in one
standard scoop of 80ml.
Provide healthy eating information
We are committed to reducing the quantity of saturated
fat, trans fat, salt and sugar in our products.
Currently, 85% of our food and beverage brands carry
the 'Healthy Choice' stamp (as per 2005 benchmark).
The stamp is carried by brands that have passed an
evaluation against a set of qualifying criteria based on
international dietary guidelines. Those criteria are
periodically reviewed by an independent international
scientific committee made up of leading scientists.
Reduce Salt levels
We have reduced the salt content of our relaunched range
of Knorr soups by 7-35%. We have initiated a similar move
for brands such as Kissan and Annapurna.
 REDUCING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Our commitment to sustainability requires us to go
beyond our own operations and reduce our total
environmental footprint. We ensure that our impact on
the environment is minimized across the value chain,
from sourcing materials to consumer use.
Greenhouse gases
Reduce GHG from our manufacturing
Our target is to reduce CO2 from energy in our
manufacturing operations per tonne of production by
25% by 2012 (against the 2004 baseline).
Low carbon technology: The ploughshare mixer technology
eliminates the need for steam in soap making, cutting
carbon emissions by 15,000 tonnes per year. We are the
first Unilever business in the world to be awarded carbon
credits under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
Carbon neutral fuels and renewable energy: Manufacturing
operations at Chiplun, Puducherry, and Hosur use briquette
boilers that utilise bio-mass as fuel. The reduction per
annum in CO2 emissions in the Chiplun factory is 11,000
tonnes and in the Puducherry factory is 10,000 tonnes.
In 2009, we reduced CO2 from energy in our manufacturing
operations by 28% (measured on per tonne basis over
a baseline of 2004).
Reduce GHG from refrigeration
Our ice-cream business has moved into procuring
technologically advanced Hydrocarbon (HC) refrigerant-
based freezers for its retail operations, instead of the
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) refrigerant based freezers.
HC has zero ozone depletion potential and negligible
global warming potential.
These freezers have brought about a significant reduction
in our carbon footprint and will result in approximately
9% savings in power consumption as well.
There are currently 6800 HC-based freezers in our fleet.
WATER
Reduce water use in agriculture
As part of our Sustainable Agriculture program, we work
with our suppliers and partners to reduce the water used
to grow our crops such as tomatoes and tea.
Reduce water use in our manufacturing process
In 2009, we reduced water usage in our manufacturing
operations by 31% measured on per tonne basis over
a baseline of 2004.
More than 75% of our manufacturing sites are zero
discharge sites.
More than 50% of our manufacturing sites have
rainwater harvesting facility (to scientifically recharge the
underground aquifers or store and reuse the rainwater
from the catchments). As of now, five Hindustan Unilever
sites have the potential to return more water to the
ground than is being consumed by them.
Reduce water use in the laundry process
Surf Excel quickwash has a special formulation that
produces less lather and hence requires less water
for rinsing. It can save up to two buckets of water
per wash load.
Considering our large consumer base for this product,
it makes a big difference, especially in the southern states
of India, where laundry accounts for up to a quarter of the
total water used.
Conserving water
We are also engaged in community projects to conserve
water. We aim to conserve more than 20 billion litres of
water by 2015.
Rainwater harvesting and soil conservation projects have
been undertaken in Khamgaon (Maharashtra), Silvassa
(Dadra and Nagar Haveli), Puducherry.
Hindustan Unilever has launched a water conservation
project in Gundar Basin (Tamil Nadu) in partnership with
DHAN and NABARD. It will enhance the livelihood of over
20,000 farmers and aims to renovate 250 irrigation tanks.
WASTE
Reduce Packaging
More than 20 projects were initiated in 2009 for reducing
the amount of packaging material used for our food
brands, with a potential to save 750 tonnes of laminate
and 135 tonnes of corrugated board.
We have reduced potential packaging waste by over
900 tonnes through several projects in 2009, across all
major brands in the laundry category.
Reduce waste from our manufacturing
100% of non-hazardous waste generated in our operations
is recycled in environment-friendly ways.
Some of our supply chain waste is sent for co-processing
at cement plants to ensure its eco-friendly disposal.
The waste is combusted at very high temperatures and
the heat is utilized in the cement clinker.
Recycle packaging
Tertiary packaging materials, like corrugated boxes used for
most of our products, are made from recyclable materials.
Tackle sachet waste
We have been exploring new technologies and
have identified pyrolysis as a promising solution.
Pyrolysis turns plastic waste into fuel, recovering
around 60% of the energy embedded in the plastic.
We are evaluating this and other technologies to assess
their technical and commercial feasibility.
We have started trials in our Puducherry factory by
purchasing and using small quantities of crude oil extracted
through this process. Currently we are monitoring the trials.
SUSTAINABLE SOURCING
Since we depend on agriculture and forestry
for a large part of our raw materials,
sustainable sourcing has become a strategic
issue for our business and brands.
Sustainable Tea
We are working closely with key tea producers
(in North and South India) and the Rainforest Alliance™,
an international certification body, in the area of
sustainable agriculture.
Nine tea estates in the Nilgiris (Tamil Nadu), and
ten tea estates in Assam were certified 'Sustainable
Estates' by the Rainforest Alliance™ in 2008 and 2009.
This certification is currently sought for 52 other tea
estates in Assam and Darjeeling.
By 2015 we aim to have the tea in all Lipton tea bags
sourced from Rainforest Alliance™ certified estates.
Sustainable fruits and vegetables
Tomato paste: we have started developing sustainable
agricultural practises with Indian producers.
We are working closely with key producers and our
initiatives include water conservation, use of authorized
pesticides, land conservation, and improvement of farmer
income. Commercial production has already commenced.
 enhancing livelihoods

We enhance the livelihoods of millions of Indians as we

grow our business.

Better LIVELIHOODS
From sourcing to distribution – we engage with Supporting micro-entrepreneurs:
a diverse set of business partners. Our business Mobile cart vendors
creates economic benefits for all our partners, Our Kwality Wall’s mobile vending operations provide
including our suppliers and distributors. entrepreneurship opportunities to over 5,500 migrant
labourers in the cities.
Helping smallholder farmers Uniforms, first aid kits, behavioural and basic sales training
In India, Unilever is working with the government to and financial support are provided through our channel
promote increased yields of gherkins used by Unilever's partners along with initial stock on credit and a vending
Amora and Maille brands. We are jointly funding eight cart with freezers.
drip-irrigation trials with gherkin suppliers to help reduce In most cases, each vendor can make INR 3000-4500
water use and increase yields and profits. So far, two trials a month. This channel generates over INR 16 crores in
have been a success, resulting in a yield increase of commissions for our vendors.
84%, increased profits of 245%, and a 70% reduction
Some of our vendors have now become distributors
in water use.
themselves, managing INR 2 to 10 crores in the ice-cream
business and earning upwards of INR 1,00,000 per month.
Supporting micro-entrepreneurs: Shakti
Project Shakti, started in year 2001, is a rural initiative
that targets small villages populated by less than
5000 individuals.
Project Shakti impacts society in two ways – the Shakti
Entrepreneur program creates livelihood opportunities
for underprivileged rural women, and the Shakti Vani
program improves quality of life by spreading health
and hygiene awareness.
Project Shakti benefits business by significantly enhancing
Hindustan Unilever’s direct rural reach, and by enabling our
brands to communicate effectively in media-dark regions.
Through Project Shakti, we have enhanced the livelihoods
of 45,000 Shakti entrepreneurs in 15 states across India.