Nestlé has announced its ambitious plans to fully switch to recyclable and usable packaging by 2025. The company's goal is that any packaging it uses does not end up in waste or landfill. Nestlé believes that there is an urgent need to reduce the environmental impact of packaging.
Mark Schneider, nestlé's chief executive, says: "Plastic waste is one of the biggest sustainability challenges facing the whole world today. Solving it requires a collective approach. We are ready to find solutions to reduce, reuse and recycle waste. We aim to move fully to recyclable and usable packaging by 2025."
The company focuses on three main areas: the abandonment of the use of non-recyclable plastics; promoting the use of plastics with a higher recycling rate; abandoning or changing complex combinations of packaging materials.
Acknowledging the need for the development of cyclical economy, Nestlé is ready to:
- to play an active role in the development of well-functioning collection, sorting and recycling schemes in all the countries in which the enterprise operates;
- work with value chain partners and associations to explore different packaging solutions to reduce plastic use and develop new approaches to plastic waste disposal;
- provide plastic packaging information on packaging of our products, thus helping consumers to dispose of it correctly;
- promote the recycled plastics market by continuing to increase the proportion of recycled plastics in our packaging, including by complying with the requirement for 25% recyclable PET bottles in Europe by 2025.
Nestlé's promise is based on a commitment to prevent packaging material from ending up as waste in seas, oceans and waterways.
"Nestlé's commitment is the right step at the right time. Given the problem of plastic waste pollution on land and in the ocean, we need a comprehensive global approach from both industry and politicians and consumers. The ambitious plan to fully switch to recyclable and reusable packaging by 2025 will help tackle plastic waste, and our goal of engaging in infrastructure development is extremely important because we need to operate globally," says Gesine Meissner MEP.