Taking the “single” out of “single-use”: Nestlé Waters aims for 25 percent recycled content in packaging by 2021

12 Dec 2018 --- To add to its fully recyclable portfolio, Nestlé Waters US is aiming to achieve 25 percent recycled plastic content status in its packaging by 2021, with the level increasing to 50 percent by 2025.

“We want to take the ‘single’ out of ‘single-use’ bottles. Our bottles were never meant to be thrown in the garbage – we carefully design them to be collected, recycled and repurposed,” says Fernando Mercé, President and CEO of Nestlé Waters North America. 

“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.”

The company is expanding its relationship with key supplier, Plastrec and working with 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 comes on the heels of Nestlé Waters’ announcement last month about the expansion of its partnership with CarbonLITE, as the rPET supplier builds a third US facility in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania. 

In addition to the company’s multi-year supplier agreements, the company shares that it continues to make indirect investments in recycling infrastructure in the US through its US$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 US$1.5 million investment in rPlanet Earth, the world’s first completely vertically integrated manufacturer of post-consumer recycled PET. 

“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 US,” says Mercé.

Earlier this year, as a result of Nestlé Waters’ existing relationship with rPET supplier Plastrec, the company unveiled a new 100 percent rPET Nestlé Pure Life bottle, the only major nationally distributed bottled water on the market to be made using 100 percent recycled plastic.