Lactalis Nestlé incorporates recycled PE in dairy bottle products through Repsol partnership

03 Aug 2022 --- Lactalis Nestlé has incorporated up to 30% recycled plastic in its chilled dairy product bottles through a new partnership with Repsol. The Repsol Reciclex range uses cutting-edge technologies to recycle plastic waste that cannot be mechanically recycled for use in food containers. 

The Nestlé Kefir range’s bottles for Spain and Portugal and the Yoggi brand’s drinking yogurt bottles – marketed in Portugal and produced in Guadalajara, Spain – contain 30% and 10% recycled material, respectively.

Since June, Lactalis Nestlé, the yogurt and dairy dessert division of the Lactalis Group, has been using recycled plastic in these PE bottles. Repsol’s circular materials have the ISCC PLUS certification that ensures their traceability. The contents are certified according to the ISCC Plus mass balance approach.

The EU Plastics Strategy requires all packaging to be recyclable or reusable in an economically viable way by 2030.

Advanced recycling
Repsol uses advanced recycling technologies to manufacture these circular materials for food contact use with the same quality as virgin plastic.

“Being able to use recycled plastic to manufacture our bottles represents an important step in the way to circularity,” says Lluis Farré, general manager for southern Europe at Lactalis Nestlé.Advanced recycling technologies continue to proliferate worldwide.

“However, everyone’s commitment is the key to this initiative’s success, starting with the consumer, by separating the label from the bottle and disposing of both elements in the yellow container, to the agents such as Repsol, Logoplaste, and Lactalis Nestlé, who jointly promote the circularity of packaging in direct contact with food.”

“We thank Lactalis Nestlé, a benchmark in its sector, for its trust in Repsol to turn this important alliance into a reality and thus enable us to achieve our shared goals in Food Safety and Sustainability and boost our commitment to support our customers in their transition to circularity,” adds Pablo Giner, PE business director at Repsol.

ISCC Plus certification
The entire value chain, from Repsol as the supplier of the material, through to Logoplaste, the manufacturer of the bottles, and Lactalis Nestlé, responsible for the product and the filling of the containers, has the ISCC Plus certification, which ensures the traceability of the recycled materials used throughout the process.

Advanced recycling continued to flourish in 2021 despite criticism from NGOs and media reports challenging the cost-effectiveness and environmental performance of these technologies. The increasing market activity was documented in a Rabobank report.

Meanwhile, Nextek’s Nextloopp project is pioneering a circular economy for food-grade PE through mechanical recycling.

Edited by Joshua Poole