Nestlé, Unilever and others sign European Plastics Pact

Food and beverage companies including Nestlé, Unilever and FrieslandCampina have reaffirmed their sustainability commitments by signing up to the European Plastics Pact.

The European Plastics Pact is a public-private coalition which aims to accelerate the move towards a circular economy for plastic packaging in Europe. At the time of publishing, 15 governments and 66 companies have signed up to the Pact, with major companies including Carrefour, Bonduelle and Veolia also committing to goals established by the Pact.

Objectives put forward by the Pact include increasing the use of recycled plastic in packaging, increasing recycling rates of plastic materials and ensuring that packaging is reusable where possible.

All signatories to the Pact commit themselves by 2025 to:

• Design all plastic packaging and single-use plastic products placed on the market to be reusable where possible and in any case recyclable by 2025;
• Move towards a more responsible use of plastic packaging and single-use plastic products, aiming to reduce virgin plastic products and packaging by at least 20% (by weight) by 2025, with half of this reduction coming from an absolute reduction in plastics;
• Increase the collection, sorting and recycling capacity by at least 25 percentage points by 2025 and reach a level that corresponds to market demand for recycled plastics;
• Increase the use of recycled plastics in new products and packaging by 2025, with plastics using companies achieving an average of at least 30% recycled plastics (by weight) in their product and packaging range.

Marco Settembri, Nestlé CEO for Europe, Middle East and North Africa said: “We are pleased to sign the European Pact. One of our joint objectives is to create a circular economy by
improving collection, sorting and recycling schemes across Europe.

“Already today a new Vittel plastic bottle is manufactured out of used ones. Tomorrow, we want to make sure that also other packaging, such as our wrappers and pouches, can be recycled into new food packaging”

Hein Schumacher, CEO at FrieslandCampina, added: “If we really want to be effective in making measurable sustainable impact, we have to work together, for the long-term.

“We call that cooperative sustainability. And that’s the approach that’s also needed for plastic packaging. The plastic value chain is international, with large, multi-national producers and suppliers.

“A unified European approach, working together across borders and categories can help to scale and speed up. That is different than the national pacts that are already in place. Therefore we support both national and international pacts.”