Nestlé Aims for 100% Recyclable or Reusable Packaging by 2025

Nestlé today announced its ambition to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or re-usable 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.

The company focuses 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.

Recognizing the need for developing a circular economy, Nestlé announced it is committed to:

• Playing an active role in the development of well-functioning collection, sorting and recycling schemes across the countries where we operate;
• Working with value chain partners and industry associations to explore different packaging solutions to reduce plastic usage, facilitate recycling and develop new approaches to eliminate plastic waste;
• Labeling our plastic product packaging with recycling information to help consumers dispose of it in the right way;
• Promoting a market for recycled plastics by continuing to increase the proportion of recycled plastics in our packaging

Preventing packaging material ending up as waste, including in seas, oceans and waterways is one of the key reasons behind Nestlé’s pledge.

Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider said, “Plastic waste is one of the biggest sustainability issues the world is facing today. Tackling it requires a collective approach. We are committed to finding improved solutions to reduce, re-use and recycle. Our ambition is to achieve 100% recyclable or reusable packaging by 2025.”

Past Sustainability News

Nestlé has long been a proponent of sustainability in business practices. In May 2017, Nestlé Waters North America announced it would be investing $6 million in an effort to find a national solution to the “critical recycling gap” in the US. Its investment is going to the Closed Loop Fund, a $100 million social impact investment fund committed to funding comprehensive recycling infrastructure and programs in cities across the US.

In 2016, Nelson Switzer took the helm as Nestlé’s vice president and chief sustainability officer. In an interview with Environmental Leader, Switzer said, “As the leading producer of bottled water in the country, we have a responsibility to do so in the most sustainable way. As the population increases, so too does the need for fresh water to meet the growing demand from communities, food producers and industry. Add to that the need for sanitary systems that also rely on fresh water and the coefficient on the front end of the water balance equation grows quickly.”

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