PolymPart: The world’s largest packaged food company is finally taking some drastic steps to reduce its plastic footprint. Nestlé, which is on track to report nearly $90 billion in revenue for 2018, will begin eliminating all plastic straws in its products starting this February, and transition its chocolate milk brand Nesquik from plastic to paper.
Eliminate all single-serve plastic
These are some of the first formal plans announced after Nestlé’s 2018 promise to eliminate all single-serve plastic from its line–and to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025. To accomplish this, the company revealed its Nestlé Institute of Packaging Scienceslast December. At this development lab in Switzerland, Nestlé will invent and test new packaging solutions to be used across its 2,000 brands, from Dog Chow to DiGiornio.
The company–at least based on its public rhetoric–seems to understand the scope of the problem of recycling. While it’s technologically possible to recycle many plastics, it’s often not all that feasible or profitable for the often privately owned recycling centers around the world to actually do so. (For instance, see this story on why you should not be eating anything out of black plastic.)
Phasing out any non-recyclable or “hard to recycle” plastics by 2025
Instead, Nestlé will be reformulating many of the plastics that it does use, phasing out any non-recyclable or “hard to recycle” plastics by 2025. That includes the elimination of half a dozen different compounds found in plastic films, trays, printing inks, yogurt pods, lids for ice cream cones, twist wraps, and laminated paper cups.
But plastic bottles, in particular, will represent a major challenge for Nestlé–which makes billions by running 100 different water bottling operations in 34 countries across the world. Each production line at these factories can produce up to 1,200 bottles a minute, and most operate on a 24/7 basis. While the company has committed to increasing its use of recycled plastics in water bottles, it is still producing mind-bending amounts of bottles that still need to be dealt with once chugged.
As a result, Nestlé seems to admit that it really needs to think beyond typical plastic altogether. “While we are committed to pursuing recycling options where feasible, we know that 100% recyclability is not enough to successfully tackle the plastics waste crisis,” said Nestlé CEO Ulf Mark Schneider in a press release. “We believe in the value of recyclable and compostable paper-based materials and biodegradable polymers, in particular where recycling infrastructure does not exist.”
Source: https://www.fastcompany.com/90294975/the-planets-largest-packaged-food-company-is-ditching-plastic
