Environmental group Greenpeace accused Nestle of not doing enough to reduce single-use plastics polluting landfills and oceans. Greenpeace International said the world’s biggest food group should set a target for reducing single-use packaging and invest in alternatives focusing on refill and reuse. Nestle is a major contributor to the plastic crisis and environmental problem that we have right now.
Growing concern over environmental issues – from climate change to plastic pollution- has triggered a wave of global student protests, piling pressure on policymakers and business leaders. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestle are the world’s biggest producers of plastic waste, according to a report last year from Greenpeace. It analyzed 187,000 pieces of trash collected in 42 countries. Nestle has said it used 1.7 million tonnes of plastic packaging last year.
Greenpeace said that was up 13 percent, but Pollard said Nestle had since changed the way it measured plastic use and the true rise was below 3 percent. Nestle has vowed to make 100 percent of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025 and push the use of compostable and biodegradable materials polymers. Greenpeace criticized Nestle’s promises as lacking transparency, clear targets, and significant investment.
Nestle was also working on a new system of water dispensers. Greenpeace launched a “plastic monster” video showing a fictional “Nestle Chief Plastics Officer” trying to buy a single-use plastic bottle of the company’s Pure Life water from a vending machine. The one-minute spot ends with the slogan “Tell Nestle to stop single-use plastic”.
