Nestlé has announced its ambition to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.
Its vision is that none of its packaging, including plastics, "ends up in landfill or as litter".
Nestlé believes that there is an urgent need to minimize the impact of packaging on the environment.
“Plastic waste is one of the biggest sustainability issues the world is facing today. Tackling it requires a collective approach," said Mark Schneider, CEO, Nestlé.
"We are committed to finding improved solutions to reduce, reuse and recycle. Our ambition is to achieve 100% recyclable or reusable packaging by 2025.”
Key Reasons
Preventing packaging material ending up as waste, including in seas, oceans and waterways is one of the key reasons behind Nestlé’s pledge.
The company said that it is focusing on three core areas: eliminate non-recyclable plastics; encourage the use of plastics that allow better recycling rates; and eliminate or change complex combinations of packaging materials.
Greenpeace Responds
In response to Nestlé's news, Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner Graham Forbes said:
“Nestlé’s statement on plastic packaging includes more of the same greenwashing baby steps to tackle a crisis it helped to create. It will not actually move the needle toward the reduction of single-use plastics in a meaningful way, and sets an incredibly low standard as the largest food and beverage company in the world.”
Forbes said that the statement is full of 'ambiguous or nonexistent targets, relies on ‘ambitions’ to do better, and puts the responsibility on consumers rather than the company to clean up its own plastic pollution'.
“A company of Nestlé’s size should be setting a strong standard to actually move toward the reduction — and eventual phasing out — of throwaway plastics. It should know by now that recycling efforts are not going to clean up our oceans, waterways, and communities. On the contrary, the company’s business as usual will only accelerate plastic pollution.” He added.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
