Nestlé Unwraps New Initiative to Cut Plastic Waste
January 16 2020 - 09:38AM
Dow Jones News
By Saabira Chaudhuri
Nestlé SA pledged to cut its use of plastic made from
fossil-fuels by a third in five years and said it would invest up
to 2 billion Swiss francs ($2.08 billion) to find more recycled
material, a particularly big challenge for the food industry.
Sellers of everything from soap to soft drinks are under
pressure from consumers and regulators to use less fossil-based
plastic -- the production of which contributes to climate change --
as well as prevent plastic trash ending up in the ocean.
In response, big consumer-goods companies including Unilever PLC
and Procter & Gamble Co. have rushed to promise reductions in
fossil-based plastic, saying they will switch to recycled material,
use refillable containers or scrap packaging entirely.
But changing to recycled plastic is especially challenging for
companies because they need high-quality material that is safe for
direct contact with food. Recycling the packaging typically used
for coffee, instant noodles or candy bars is difficult and
expensive because it is often made from multiple types of material,
like plastic melded with aluminum or paper.
Sellers of fresh food also rely on plastic film -- used to wrap
cucumber and broccoli -- and thin plastic bags for loose items,
that often can't be recycled.
Even when plastic is technically recyclable, it often isn't
collected and recycled. That is partly because, until recently,
there has been little demand for recycled plastic, so even highly
recyclable plastic -- like drinks bottles -- leak into the
environment.
To spur collection, Nescafé and Purina pet-food maker Nestlé
Thursday said it would spend more than 1.5 billion francs on
recycled plastic that is approved for contact with food. It also
earmarked 250 million francs to invest in start-ups researching new
materials, refill systems and recycling technologies. It said it
would fund the efforts by making cost savings elsewhere.
Nestlé's target of a one-third reduction in the 1.67 million
metric tons of fossil-based plastic it used in 2018 is a challenge.
Just 2% of its plastic packaging by weight is currently made from
recycled material.
The world's largest packaged food company is transitioning away
from plastic to paper on some of its products, like Nesquik powder
and Munch chocolate bars, but so far such efforts have been niche
or had mixed success.
To date, there is almost no market for the hard-to-recycle
material often used in food packaging. However, new legislation in
some countries, like India, is forcing consumer goods companies to
pay to collect plastic trash. It is being used to build roads or
burned for energy but companies are researching ways to use it to
make new packaging.
Recycling efforts are being further challenged by China's ban on
scrap imports. For decades, the country took many of the world's
recyclables and turned them into new products. Its absence from the
market has hit demand and raised costs for municipalities,
propelling some to scrap their recycling programs entirely.
Nestlé's announcement Thursday follows similar pledges from
rivals.
Dove soap maker Unilever said last year it would halve its use
of fossil-based plastic by 2025, saying much of that drop would
come from an absolute reduction in plastic by switching to
refillables, smaller containers or not using any packaging at
all.
Procter & Gamble last year pledged to halve its fossil-based
plastic by 2030, while Mars Inc. and PepsiCo have also announced
similar targets.
Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at saabira.chaudhuri@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 16, 2020 09:23 ET (14:23 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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