"All Nestlé packaging will be recyclable by 2025"

Nestlé is the latest food company to announce its intent to reduce plastic waste by making its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025. Greenpeace is skeptical and would rather see the food giant completely renounce single-use plastic packaging.

No quantified targets

Pressure on food companies to eradicate non-sustainable plastics from their packaging is mounting. Mere weeks after Starbucks announced its NextGen Cup Challenge, the aim of which would be to produce a fully reusable coffee cup within the next three years, Nestlé, another bulk consumer of plastics, is stepping up its game as well. In a statement made yesterday, the Swiss food company declared its intent to use only recyclable or reusable plastics by 2025.

“We are already experimenting with lighter colours for our plastic packaging, as those turn out to be easier to recycle,” Nestle sustainability expert Duncan Pollard explained. The company also said it would simplify its combination of packaging materials and encourage the use of recycable plastics. 

For environmentalist organisation Greenpeace, Nestlé is not taking its efforts far enough: “a company of this size and impact on ocean life should be able to clearly quantify its targets for reducing plastic waste,” Greenpeace Switzerland spokesman Yves Zenger said in a statement: “Instead of focusing on limiting non-recyclable plastics, we would rather Nestlé refrained from using single-use plastics all together. Earlier this year, Nestlé rival Unilever promised to increase its recycled plastic use by 25% and to limit its packaging use by a third before 2025.