WRAP appoints Sebastian Munden as new Chair

Sebastian Munden, former General Manager and Executive Vice President for Unilever UK and Ireland has joined WRAP as its new Chair.

Munden, who stepped down from Unilever earlier this year, will officially join the climate action NGO later this month to replace Julie Hill, who was Chair for two consecutive terms.

Sebastian Munden joined Unilever in 1990 as a graduate trainee in marketing, working in many product categories across Europe, Australia and North America. The company became a founding member of the UK Plastics Pact during his time as Executive Vice President and General Manager UK and Ireland, and a co-founder of the Flexible Plastic Fund.

He is well known for his work on brands that are both commercially successful and champion more sustainable behaviour, tackling the issues of plastic, food and packaging waste while at Unilever, and for spearheading efforts to reduce them. For instance, as Executive Vice President of Unilever, Munden also oversaw the launch of the NGO’s refill partnership with Asda – representing the company’s largest refill and reuse trial in Europe.

Munden is also Chair of Ad Net Zero which is working with the advertising industry to deliver sustainable behaviour change and net zero goals by 2030.

His predecessor, Julie Hill, served as WRAP Chair for eight years. Julie has had a 35-year career in environmental policy and politics and presently, is an inaugural non-executive board member of the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), Chair of the Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES) and Chair of the Advisory Committee for Social Science (ACSS) for the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

As well as this, Julie is the author of ‘The Secret Life of Stuff’ which helped direct awareness to the connection between carbon footprints and our daily lives.

Sebastian Munden, WRAP Chair, said: “I am delighted to join WRAP at this key stage in its twenty-year history. The next few years will be critical for people and the planet. Climate change will only get worse, and resources will only become more strained and less secure unless we act now.

“From food to plastics, we must change how we treat our world, the way we use its resources, and reduce waste. I see WRAP as a major force in the fight against climate change, and a key organisation building systemic change through an increasingly global network of collaboration with both governments and business.”

Richard Swannell, Interim CEO WRAP added: “We are delighted to have Sebastian join WRAP. He brings a huge wealth of experience and drive for putting sustainability at the heart of how businesses operate that has truly changed business culture. He has been a huge supporter of WRAP’s work in transforming our food and plastic packaging systems - helping us launch the UK Plastics Pact in 2018 and supporting the Courtauld Commitment 2030 throughout his time at Unilever. I look forward to collaborating with him more closely.”

Julie Hill also commented: “I am delighted to be handing over to Sebastian. He has a long track record of environmental expertise and action, in the context of one of the world’s leading companies, and has the experience and dynamism to take WRAP to the next level.”