Technological watch

Nestlé Waters North America (Stamford, CT), announced December 10 that it will achieve 25% recycled plastic content (PCR) across its U.S. domestic portfolio by 2021. NWNA plans to continue expanding its use of recycled materials in the coming years, further setting an ambition to reach 50 percent recycled plastic by 2025.

The company is expanding its relationship with key supplier, Plastrec (Joliette, Canada) and other suppliers to support the company’s ability to nearly quadruple its use of food-grade recycled plastic, or rPET, in less than three years. This follows last month’s announcement of the expansion of its partnership with CarbonLITE (see Nestlé Waters signs agreement with recycled PET supplier CarbonLITE) , as the rPET supplier builds a third U.S. facility in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania.

“We want to take the ‘single’ out of ‘single-use’ bottles,” says Fernando Mercé, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nestlé Waters North America. Our bottles were never meant to be thrown in the garbage—we carefully design them to be collected, recycled, and repurposed. PET plastic is a valuable resource that, if recycled properly, can be used to create new bottles again and again. We’re proving that it can be done by making bottles out of other bottles, not ten years from now, but today.”

In its 2016 report, The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation found that most plastic packaging is used only once, and that 95 percent of the value of plastic packaging material, worth $80-120 billion annually, is lost to the economy. This latest milestone positions Nestlé Waters to play a greater role in addressing the nation’s growing recycling challenges, while unlocking the full economic and environmental benefits of treating plastic as a valuable resource, rather than as a waste product.

 

Accelerating the market for recycled plastic

In addition to the company’s multi-year supplier agreements, Nestlé Waters continues to make indirect investments in recycling infrastructure in the U.S. through its $6 million investment in the Closed Loop Fund. In municipalities such as Waterbury, Connecticut, the investment fund is supporting enhanced recycling programs with a goal of increasing the current city recycling rate from 6 percent to 25 percent by 2020. Just recently, Closed Loop Fund announced a $1.5 million investment in rPlanet Earth, the world’s first completely vertically integrated manufacturer of post-consumer recycled PET.

Nestlé Waters also supports recycling collection programs through organizations like Keep America Beautiful, including an integrated recycling education and awareness initiative for the 10,000 students affected by the Flint water crisis. The company was also the first beverage company in North America to add How2Recycle information on the labels of its major U.S. brands. These labels include a reminder for consumers to empty the bottle and replace the cap before recycling. 

“Through long-term supplier contracts and our commitment to supporting initiatives to improve collection rates, we are helping to stimulate a more robust recycling market, and unlock the potential of a circular economy here in the U.S.,” says Mercé.

WestPack 2019 (Feb. 5-7; Anaheim, CA) offers everything from design to manufacturing in packaging and plastics with valuable free presentations throughout the event at Center Stage. Come explore the latest innovations, processes and new products. For details, visit .Earlier this year, as a result of Nestlé Waters’ existing relationship with rPET supplier Plastrec, the company unveiled a new 100% rPET Nestlé Pure Life bottle, the only major nationally distributed bottled water on the market to be made using 100 percent recycled plastic.

In California, Nestlé Waters is leading the industry in its use of recycled plastic: more than 42% of the plastic the company uses across all brands sold in California is made from rPET– more than any other beverage manufacturer in the state. In fact, all single-serve bottles of Arrowhead® Brand Mountain Spring Water and Nestlé Pure Life Purified Water produced in California are made with 50% recycled plastic.

“The planet has a problem with plastic pollution,” said Mark Murray, executive director of the environmental group Californians Against Waste. “If plastic is going to survive as a packaging material it must demonstrate closed-loop capability. Nestlé Waters has embraced this responsibility by accelerating their use of recycled content over the next 3 years and their commitment to reach 50 percent by 2025. [It’s] an example that the rest of the beverage industry must embrace.”

This latest milestone is part of parent company Nestlé SA’s broader ambition to develop a circular economy for plastics, and to prevent packaging from ending up as litter. The global company recently announced that it has signed the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment to work collectively on solutions that address the root causes of plastics waste and pollution. Nestlé Waters North America’s packaging, which is predominantly made using PET plastic, is already 100% recyclable, and the company views its push toward using more recycled materials to be its next phase in making its packaging more sustainable and addressing the issue of plastic waste.