A new investigation reveals the significant role Unilever played in the proliferation of single-use plastic sachets and the resulting global pollution crisis. Journalist Saabira Chaudhuri’s 2025 book, Consumed: How Big Brands Got Us Hooked on Plastic, details how the company industrialized the sachet format, initially a small local innovation, into a worldwide business strategy.
How Unilever Drove the Sachet Crisis
A Business Model Engineered Around Disposability
Chaudhuri’s research shows that Unilever’s India arm deliberately transformed the sachet into a mass-market product. These small, single-use packets unlocked access to low-income markets by allowing consumers to purchase small quantities of products, ultimately creating a multi-billion-unit sales engine. This strategy, however, was driven by profit, not consumer need.
Marketing That Reshaped Behaviour
Unilever’s strategy extended beyond packaging. The company invested heavily in outreach programs, including mobile cinema vans and in-home demonstrations, to present branded products as modern and desirable. These marketing efforts successfully displaced traditional, low-waste practices with single-use alternatives.
The Fallout: Billions of Sachets With Nowhere to Go
The widespread adoption of sachets has had severe environmental consequences. In India alone, tens of billions of sachets are used annually, with almost none being recycled due to their inherent design. This waste accumulates in waterways, drainage systems, and informal dumps, disproportionately impacting communities lacking adequate waste management services.
Corporate Dependence on Sachets
Chaudhuri argues that Unilever is now reliant on disposability, continuing to depend on sachets for sales volume and profit margins despite growing awareness of the pollution they cause. A 2023 Greenpeace International report, “Unilever Uncovered,” found that less than 0.2% of the company’s plastic packaging is reusable.
The Real Alternative: Reuse Is Already Working
While Consumed details the origins of the sachet problem, communities are already demonstrating viable solutions. In Manila, Philippines, neighbourhood stores are operating as reuse and refill hubs, offering affordable alternatives to single-use sachets. Similar pilot projects in India have shown success, preventing over 5,000 sachets from entering the waste stream.
Unilever Must Change Course
The success of reuse models demonstrates that sachets are not essential. They represent a corporate decision with inequitable consequences. Unilever could shift away from sachets, but it would require the same level of intention it took to promote them.
Moving forward, Unilever could commit to a global, time-bound phase-out of sachets, invest in reuse and refill systems, support reductions in plastic production, shift its innovation and marketing away from disposability, and support a strong Global Plastics Treaty that prioritizes reduction and reuse. Continuing the current course is unlikely to be sustainable.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a “sachet” in this context?
A sachet, as described in the source, is a small, single-use packet typically used to contain a single serving of a product like shampoo or detergent. They were initially intended to make products more accessible to low-income consumers.
What did Unilever do to promote sachets?
Unilever industrialized the sachet, transforming it into a global mass-market strategy. They also invested heavily in marketing and outreach programs to promote branded products in rural areas, presenting them as modern and aspirational.
What is the current status of Unilever’s sachet production?
According to a 2023 Greenpeace report, Unilever was on track to sell around 53 billion sachets in 2023. While the company has acknowledged the need to address the sachet problem and invested in pilot projects, it continues to rely heavily on them.
As communities and organizations seek solutions to plastic pollution, will Unilever prioritize long-term sustainability over short-term profits?
