External Affairs at Unilever
Thor is representing Unilever externally focusing on Circular Economy and Innovation Policy. Accelerating the transition towards a Circular Economy by scaling by developing & scaling key innovations partnerships & collaboration. In parallel crafting an enabling regulatory framework by engaging with governments, trade & industry associations, policymakers, societal organisations (NGOs) and knowledge institutes on both partnerships as well as policy & legislation.
External roles include the Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (VNO-NCW), the Acceleration Table for Chemical Recycling of Plastics, the Dutch Food & Drink Federation (FNLI) and the Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition (DSGC), with key publication Transition Time! A Circular Economy for Plastics. At EU level Thor is active industry-collaboration accelerate the transition towards a Circular Economy, through collaboration with brand-owners, incl. the Flexible Packaging Initiative.
His current focus area is scaling innovative recycling technologies to address both recyclability challenges (multi-material flexible plastic packaging) as well as increasing the uptake of sustainable & circular plastic in new high-quality applications (incl. contact sensitive materials).
A personal quote Thor shares with us towards the CPC’24 is: “When we stop blaming and start collaborating, we can create circular value chains.”