Swiss company Nestlé is one of the largest providers of beverages in single-use plastic bottles in the world. On April 10, it released an important new policy statement about how it plans to address the scourge of plastic debris, much of which ends up in the oceans.
“Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider said, ‘Plastic waste is one of the biggest sustainability issues the world is facing today. Tackling it requires a collective approach. We are committed to finding improved solutions to reduce, re-use and recycle. Our ambition is to achieve 100% recyclable or reusable packaging by 2025.’
Greenpeace reacted: “Nestlé’s statement on plastic packaging includes more of the same greenwashing baby steps to tackle a crisis it helped to create. It will not actually move the needle toward the reduction of single-use plastics in a meaningful way, and sets an incredibly low standard as the largest food and beverage company in the world. The statement is full of ambiguous or nonexistent targets, relies on ‘ambitions’ to do better, and puts the responsibility on consumers rather than the company to clean up its own plastic pollution“.