Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), an India-based subsidiary of consumer goods company Unilever, has acquired a 14.3% stake in Lucro Plastecycl, a Mumbai-based recycler of flexible plastics.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Lucro collects, sorts and recycles difficult-to-manage flexible plastic into recyclates, both for use in its own production and for third-party sales. Its proprietary de-inking, dry wash, and deodorising solutions remove ink, absorb oil and contaminants, and eliminate odours from granules making it easier for brands to adopt Lucro’s PCR material.
Hindustan Unilever said in a statement the investment is a step forward towards its sustainability goals to scale up the use of recycled flexible plastic content in packaging, in line with the Indian Government’s vision of zero plastic waste future. The investment aims to strengthen plastic circularity by increasing the availability of recycled content for flexibles, providing a roadmap for businesses to move towards sustainable plastic packaging and address the challenge of hard-to-recycle flexible plastic.
"At Lucro, we turn the challenge of recycling post-consumer flexible plastics into an opportunity to create high-quality, recycled plastics while driving the circular economy,” said Ujwal Desai, managing director at Lucro. “This investment by HUL paves the way for increasing our recycling capacity, driving large-scale commercial adoption of post-consumer resin and setting a new benchmark for sustainable plastics.”
In 2020, Singapore-based investment management company Circulate Capital invested $6 million in Lucro, alongside Indonesia-based PET recycler Tridi Oasis.
According to a 2023 report by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), India recycles only 8% of its plastic waste, generating approximately 26,000 tonnes daily, more than any economy expect the United States and the European Union.