Nestlé advances in the recyclability of its packaging

February 27th 2023

Nestle

Nestlé Its vision is that none of its packaging, including plastics, ends up in landfills, oceans, lakes or rivers in order to create a waste-free future. Thus, 96% of all Nestlé packaging in Spain is already designed to be recycled or reused.

To this end, the company has worked in three areas: promoting ecodesign, collaborating with other agents in the improvement of the collection, selection and recycling and promoting the citizen awareness.

“Based on the fact that packaging is necessary to ensure food safety and product quality, at Nestlé we are committed to developing sustainable and innovative designs. We work to actively contribute to the search for solutions for waste management, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions and in favor of a circular economy. Our great ambition is that future generations can live on a planet without waste”, he highlighted. Jordi Aycart, responsible for the Environment at Nestlé Spain.

The Ecodesign

For now, to achieve this, the Company has reduced, replaced and redesigned the plastic packaging of its products. In this way, it has encouraged the use of those with better recycling rates, minimizing materials that are difficult to recycle.

To give just a few examples, this is the case of the interior trays of the Red Box chocolates that have been replaced by transparent ones to facilitate their recyclability or the replacement of the Nesquik can lids and Nescafe jars or easy-serve formats of La Lechera by others made with recyclable monomaterial. Likewise, the body of all Nescafe Dolce Gusto coffee capsules They already have 20% less plastic.

Nestlé Spain, in addition, in some cases, has eliminated the plastic of some groupings of the units that arrive at the points of sale, as is the case of the Solís tomato bricks and, in others, it has replaced them with recyclable cardboard, from sustainable sources, as is the case in the range of Coast.

Recycled plastic and aluminum

The company has also promoted the launch of some formats of its watermarks in our country – Nestlé Aquarel and Viladrau – made with recycled plastic or rPET, such as the 75 cl and 1,5 liter bottles of both brands that contain 50% rPET, as well as the 1 liter bottle from Viladrau. Similarly, the company has also launched Purina ONE Bifensis complete cat foods with packaging made from recycled plastic.

For their part, the Original and Vertuo capsules of Nespresso already contain 80% recycled aluminum.

Finally, alternative materials have also been sought, such as paper. In this way, for example, the entire range of products Smarties They are presented with containers made of this material.

Alliances for recycling

Along with a design that favors its recyclability, Nestlé Spain has also promoted alliances with other partners with the commitment to improve selective collection and recycling.

Thus, the company has promoted the formation of circularcaps, a non-profit organization made up of 24 coffee manufacturers, created with the aim of developing and managing an ambitious collective system for the collection and recycling of used coffee capsules based on the system that the company, through its brands Nescafé Dolce Gusto and Nespresso, launched in Spain in 2010. This system already has more than 4.380 recycling points throughout Spain.

Recently, Nestlé, through its Nescafé Dolce Gusto brand, has also promoted the creation of the Alliance for the Recycling of Small Plastics (ARPP), a platform that promotes the recycling of this type of small-sized plastic in Spain. In addition, through this alliance, it has reached agreements with the Valencia City Council and the Generalitat Valenciana to develop a pilot project in the city of Valencia to separate, classify and recycle small plastic waste.

Nespresso also developed a similar initiative in the same city a few years ago through the Coalition for the Recycling of Aluminum and Light Steel (COAALI), an entity created to promote the effective recycling of small containers made with these types of materials, infinitely recyclable. A whole series of measures implemented with the aim of continuing to advance in the recyclability of Nestlé products in our country and promoting the circular economy.

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