Nestle shifted critical recycling goal and revealed scale of plastics problem
If companies considered sector leaders in plastics reduction efforts are failing to meet their goals, that bodes poorly for the rest
WHEN Nestle tweaked its plastic packaging goals in 2022, few noticed. The shift in language on the website of the world’s largest food-maker pledged to mostly use plastic “designed for” recycling by 2025, rather than use only “recyclable” or reusable packaging by next year – its original commitment.
The subtle rewording might seem like semantics. But the difference amounts to 280,000 tonnes of additional non-recyclable plastic waste a year, according to the latest available data for 2022. Piled up, it would weigh the same as 30 Eiffel towers.
It is also a fresh indication that the efforts to curb the use of virgin plastics – including a key pledge made by dozens of companies since 2018 to make all such packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable – are failing. The rolling-back of some commitments coincides with companies facing pressure from two years of rising raw material costs and investor calls to focus on profitability over saving the planet.
“If some of the world’s largest multinational companies with near-limitless resources at their disposal are failing to deliver on their commitments and pledges, something is clearly very wrong with the system,” said Christina Dixon, ocean campaign leader at the Environmental Investigation Agency, a non-governmental organisation, referring to the voluntary commitments by companies to reduce the use of plastics.
Nestle, the maker of Nespresso pods and Maggi Stock cubes, said it changed the wording because it was important to report on what it could control. “As communicated publicly in 2022, we remain committed to achieving 100 per cent reusable or recyclable packaging in the long term, but given infrastructure barriers, this was no longer realistically achievable by 2025,” a Nestle spokesperson said.
Some producers blame insufficient recycling infrastructure, inadequate regulation and lethargic consumers for delays in recycling. They call on governments to do more to boost investment and create financial incentives to develop demand for more types of plastics markets.
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But that is only part of the story. Critics say companies need to buck their addiction to packaging that does not have viable recycling solutions – things such as multilayered plastic sachets used for food or household consumer products.
“A very big share of packaging put on the market today is not designed (to be) recyclable,” said Sander Defruyt, who works on initiatives to create a circular economy for plastic at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
“Industry will need to continue making big investments in innovation and production line changes to move away from these, towards reusable or recyclable solutions.”
Technically difficult, collecting recyclable plastic is also expensive and bound by complex regulations.
Nestle is not the only company fudging its way through an ever-growing sea of plastic pollution. Unilever publicly rolled back its ambitious plastics reduction targets in April, while Mondelez International and Ferrero Group quietly tweaked their targets in published reports to set a “designed for” goal. Unilever said it had made tangible progress in reducing plastic waste but has much more work to do.
Other plastics reduction pledges are also proving a challenge. Even though Nestle says it is on track to meet a goal of reducing its use of virgin plastics by a third compared with 2018, that figure was only 15 per cent last year, meaning progress must dramatically accelerate to meet ambitions.
Yet companies such as Nestle and Unilever are considered sector leaders in terms of their plastics reduction efforts. They report annual progress on their commitments to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. So if they are failing to reach their goals, that bodes poorly for the rest.
They want the United Nations Plastics Treaty – a legally binding global agreement expected this year – to reduce plastics production and set the same standard for companies globally.
“The global plastic industry has created the illusion of recyclability,” Planet Tracker, an environmental NGO, said in a statement. “When in reality, a shocking 91 per cent of plastic is not recycled globally.”
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