Nestle shifted critical recycling goal and revealed scale of plastics problem

When Nestle SA tweaked its plastic packaging goals in 2022, few noticed.

The shift in language on the website of the world’s largest food maker pledged to mostly use plastic “designed for” recycling by 2025 rather than only use “recyclable” or reusable packaging by next year — its original commitment.

The subtle rewording, highlighted publicly here for the first time, might seem like semantics. But the difference amounts to 280,000 metric tons of additional non-recyclable plastic waste a year, according to the latest available data for 2022.

Piled up, it would weigh the same as 30 Eiffel towers or 1,400 Statues of Liberty.

It’s also a fresh indication that the efforts to curb the use of virgin plastics — including a key pledge made by dozens of companies since 2018 to make all such packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable — are failing. The rolling back of some commitments coincides with companies facing pressure from two years of rising raw material costs and investor calls to focus on profitability over saving the planet.

“If some of the world’s largest multinational companies with near limitless resources at their disposal are failing to deliver on their commitments and pledges, something is clearly very wrong with the system,” said Christina Dixon, ocean campaign leader at the Environmental Investigation Agency, a nongovernmental organization, referring to the voluntary commitments by companies to reduce the use of plastics.

Nestle, the maker of Nespresso pods and Maggi Stock cubes, said it changed the wording because it was important to report on what it could control. “As communicated publicly in 2022, we remain committed to achieving 100% reusable or recyclable packaging in the long term, but given infrastructure barriers this was no longer realistically achievable by 2025,” a Nestle spokesperson said.

But according to its own data the company had fallen back. In 2022, the last year available, 51% of its packaging was recyclable, reusable or compostable, down from 55% in 2018, the base year restated for a fair comparison. The company expects this to rise to 63% for 2023 as some materials get recycled more widely. Using the adjusted goal and with the tweaked language, however, things look much better: in 2023, 83.5% of its plastic packaging was designed for recycling.

About 400 million tons of plastic waste are produced globally every year — so another 30 Eiffel Towers might seem like a drop in the ocean. But the United Nations has warned that if historic growth trends continue, that figure will almost treble to 1.1 billion tons in 2050. Much of that will end up in seas and rivers, causing massive harm to animal and human health. But with less than 10% of plastic recycled globally, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and companies like Nestle failing to reach their goals, promises that once looked bold now look unachievable.

Some producers blame insufficient recycling infrastructure, inadequate regulation and lethargic consumers for delays in recycling. And call on governments to do more to boost investment and create financial incentives to develop demand for more types of plastics markets.

But that is only part of the story. Critics says companies need to buck their addiction to packaging that doesn’t have viable recycling solutions — things like multilayered plastic sachets used for food or household consumer products.

“A very big share of packaging put on the market today is not designed recyclable,” said Sander Defruyt, who works on initiatives to create a circular economy for plastic at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. “Industry will need to continue making big investments in innovation and production line changes to move away from these, towards reusable or recyclable solutions.”

The Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by the yachtswoman, has standardized the reporting of environmental pledges for big companies.

Technically difficult, collecting recyclable plastic also is expensive and bound by complex regulations.

Nestle isn’t the only company fudging its way through an ever growing sea of plastic pollution. Unilever Plc publicly rolled back its ambitious plastics reduction targets in April, while Mondelez International Inc. and Ferrero Group quietly tweaked their targets in published reports to set a “designed for” goal.

Unilever said it had made tangible progress in reducing plastic waste but has much more work to do. A Ferrero spokesperson said recyclability at scale depends on the infrastructure and processes available at local level. Mondelez said the change was driven by factors such as the integration of acquisitions and the time needed to complete trials across its supply chains.

Other plastics reduction pledges are also proving a challenge. Even though Nestle says it’s on track to meet a goal of reducing its use of virgin plastics by a third compared with 2018, that figure was only 15% last year, meaning progress must dramatically accelerate to meet ambitions.

“Given the rampant food price inflation, this was not an easy path to pursue,” Mark Schneider, Nestle’s chief executive officer, told journalists in April of its efforts to reach environmental targets over the last two years.

Yet, companies like Nestle and Unilever are considered sector leaders in terms of their plastics reduction efforts. They report annual progress on their commitments to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. So if they are failing to reach their goals, that bodes poorly for the rest.

They want the U.N. Plastics Treaty — a legally binding global agreement expected this year — to reduce plastics production and set the same standard for companies globally. But reaching consensus is tricky and the last and penultimate round of talks took production caps off the table.

“The global plastic industry has created the illusion of recyclability,” Planet Tracker, an environmental NGO said in a statement. “When in reality a shocking 91% of plastic is not recycled globally.”

Plastic-eating enzymes

The continued use of plastics for which there are currently only limited recycling solutions make it impossible for some consumer groups — among the biggest users of the material in the world — to meet their commitments.

In 2022, more than 17% of Nestle’s plastic packaging was made up of things like multilayered sachets and pouches — typically containing a combination of plastics, aluminum and paper — which aren’t being recycled at scale anywhere.

Nestle and other consumer groups use the format to help develop their presence in emerging markets by selling everything from Nescafe to nonperishable shampoos in smaller, almost tester, packaging.

But without access to waste collection infrastructure they are often dumped in rivers and on beaches after use. Even if they did have such facilities such packaging is not recyclable at scale because it’s too difficult to separate out the different layers. With 19% of its plastic waste coming from mixed-material packaging smaller than A4, Unilever like Nestle, will struggle to be 100% recyclable without stopping these formats.

Companies don't have the solutions for their sustainability goals for years ahead, says Donny Kranson, portfolio manager at Vontobel, a Nestle shareholder. “They are expecting the technology to evolve and the ecosystem to evolve to give better answers.”

Unilever said it was working on alternatives such as reusable and refillable packaging systems, and different materials, as well as collecting and recycling.

Biochemists are looking to nature for solutions, at least once the packets are collected. Startups like Carbios, a French company which uses enzymes to break down PET, are now trying to tackle these mixed materials. But its plastic-eating enzyme technology will not be available at an industrial scale before 2026.

• With assistance from Rachel Graham and Jody Megson.