Nestlé highlighted how it is improving its packaging to facilitate recycling on Global Recycling Day (18 March).
“We are making progress in reducing our overall packaging, making it more recyclable, and using renewable or recycled materials in our packaging,” says Nestlé Head of Environmental, Social, and Governance Strategy and Deployment, Antonia Wanner.
At the end of 2023, 85.3 per cent of Nestlé’s plastic packaging globally was designed to be recycled, while 41.5 per cent of its total packaging was made from recycled or renewable content.
To accomplish this, Nestlé has worked with local and national governments, industry alliances, civil society, and consumers to develop and improve recycling infrastructure in countries where the brand is present. Nestlé has partnered with 220 initiatives to develop well-functioning waste collection, sorting, and recycling schemes in Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, and Latin America.
In Belgium, since 1 January 2023, all beverage capsules and pods, whether aluminium or plastic, can be collected in the new Blue Bag for recycling. This solution is the result of a partnership between Nespresso, Nestlé, JDE Peet’s, and FostPlus.
“The design of, and material used in, our packaging are factors we can directly impact. But we also go beyond that and help build up waste management infrastructure, support harmonised regulation, and engage on the human rights of waste workers,” Wanner says.
The company previously announced a US$8.91 million investment into a new recycling facility in Durham, United Kingdom, to process flexible plastics, which will open later this year.
In Brazil, Nestlé has partnered with the Recicleiros Cidades project, which provides job training, promotes consumer recycling education, and implements waste collection infrastructure in 11 Brazilian states. Such projects in Brazil supported by Nestlé empower more than 8,000 recycling professionals.
