Nestlé Waters North America announces recycled content goal

Nestlé Waters North America (NWNA), Stamford, Connecticut, has announced that it will use 25 percent recycled plastic across its U.S. domestic portfolio by 2021. The company says it plans to reach 50 percent recycled plastic by 2025.

NWNA says it is expanding its relationship with key supplier, Plastrec of Joliette, Canada, and working with other suppliers to support the company's ability to nearly quadruple its use of food-grade recycled polyethylene terephthalate, 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 LA-based 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 NWNA. “Our bottles were never meant to be thrown in the garbage—we carefully design them to be collected, recycled and repurposed.”

He adds, “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 10 years from now, but today."

In addition to the company's multiyear supplier agreements, NWNA says it continues to make indirect investments in recycling infrastructure in the U.S. through its $6 million investment in the Closed Loop Fund, New York. 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 postconsumer recycled PET.

NWRA says it 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 also has added 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.," Mercé says.

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, the company says.

In California, more than 42 percent of the plastic the company uses across all brands sold in the state is made from rPET, which NWNA says is more than any other beverage manufacturer in the state. Single-serve bottles of Arrowhead Brand Mountain Spring Water and Nestlé Pure Life Purified Water produced in California are made with 50 percent recycled plastic.

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

Parent company Nestlé SA has signed the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment to work collectively on solutions that address the root causes of plastics waste and pollution.

More information about Nestlé Waters North America's sustainability efforts is available at www.Nestlé-watersna.com/en/planet.