Nestlé in society Creating Shared Value and meeting our commitments 2015

Nestlé in society:
Creating Shared Value
Nutrition, health
and wellness Rural development Water
Environmental
sustainability
Human rights
and compliance
Our
people
G4-EN1; G4-EN28
competition for supplies, yet many still do not have the
appropriate performance criteria for our needs. Currently, over
a third of our packaging materials are made from renewable
materials (see Using recycled materials), and most of these are
fibre-based materials such as paper and board.
Renewable packaging materials (% of materials for
packaging purposes)
2015 38.3
2014 39.6
2013 38.9
We continue to participate in the development of new
materials produced from sustainably managed renewable
resources, such as biobased 7 plastics and fibre-based
materials, and assess their potential environmental benefits,
functional performance, availability and cost so that we can
select the most appropriate applications for Nestlé.
Currently, the applications using biobased plastics present in
the market include:
• Nestlé Brazil uses bio-PE in caps and the inner liner of
beverage cartons;
• Nestlé Waters Italy uses bio-PET in Levissima bottles; and
• In the UK, Quality Street continues to use Natureflex
cellophane for its twist wraps. We also use the same
material in window cartons for Smarties and approximately
20 other projects are currently under evaluation.
Over the long term, our focus will be on third-generation
bioplastics (see table below) and fibre-based materials
typically sourced from plant matter such as wood, grass and
reeds, algae and agricultural by-products (e.g. cereal husks),
all of which don’t compete with food for land. Each will be
assessed on a case-by-case basis with respect to
environmental credentials, regional and local impacts,
consumer expectations and effects on food security.
Recovering used packaging
In several regions, including Europe, Latin America and Asia,
authorities have imposed, or are considering imposing, bans
on plastic carrier bags to combat the problem of littering. In
some countries, these proposals also extend to food
packaging and the mandatory use of degradable plastics.
While Nestlé welcomes government initiatives to combat
the problem of plastic litter from discarded food packaging,
we believe that neither material bans nor the enforced use of
degradable materials is the answer. We favour the
development of comprehensive collection and recovery
infrastructure, underpinned by effective public education
programmes. Therefore, we remain committed to working with
relevant authorities and industry associations to ensure suitable
infrastructure and awareness-raising activities are in place.
At a corporate level, Nestlé is a member of EUROPEN, the
European Organization for Packaging and the Environment,
and was elected into its executive committee in 2015. We also
co-chair the EUROPEN Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Taskforce
and we represent EUROPEN within the Packaging Working
Group of Product Environmental Footprint pilot of the
European Commission. In addition, we actively worked within
the European Chamber of Commerce to create a joint industry
position on the subject of packaging bans and the enforced
use of degradable packaging.
Nestlé also holds membership with AMERIPEN (the
American Institute for Packaging and the Environment) and
the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC), having joined in
November 2015. AMERIPEN advocates for packaging policy
advancement in North America and takes a science-based,
material-neutral approach to encourage informed decisionmaking
on packaging and the environment by policy-makers
and thought leaders.
Several markets are also engaged in activities to educate
consumers and establish collection and recovery infrastructure
for used packaging in emerging and developed countries, as
outlined overleaf.
Nestlé applications for bioplastics
Generation Materials Possible applications Issues for Nestlé Timeframe
Generation 1 Polylactic acid and starch
blends derived from food
crops such as corn.
Twistwraps, yoghurt
pots.
Limited potential due to lack of moisture
barrier, moisture and temperature
sensitivity, processing challenges and cost.
Now
Generation 2
Generation 3
Conventional plastics, e.g.
PE, PET and PP, derived from
renewable resources such as
sugar cane.
New bioplastics derived from
sources not competing with
food and animal feed
(cellulose, wood, agricultural
by-products, algae).
Caps and interior layer
for beverage cartons,
water bottles and
cereal boxes.
Full Nestlé portfolio.
Identical properties to materials currently
used. Use limited by cost and supply (e.g.
only one supplier of bio-PE in Brazil). Need
careful assessment of environmental
impacts and food security issues.
Actively participating in research,
development and validation. Land use
must still be carefully scrutinised.
Now to 2016
2016–2020
7 A renewable or biobased resource is defined as ‘a material or resource that is
composed of biomass from a living source and that can be continually replenished’.
Examples include trees, crops, grasses, algae or waste of biological origin.
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