Nestlé – Minimising packaging and reusing waste

After an in-depth study that identified climate change, packaging, waste and sourcing as its key sustainability issues, Nestlé has taken action to improve eco-efficiency, minimise waste to landfill and reduce packaging of its products.

In its confectionary business, Nestlé redesigned the packaging on its Easter egg range, reducing the carton weight and saving paper and plastic. Savings have also been achieved by reducing the size of the Quality Street chocolate tin and redesigning and resizing Milky Bar wrappers.  In 2008, Nestlé replaced the cellophane Quality Street sweet wrappers with Natureflex, a household compostable material that is carbon-neutral and made of renewable resources.

To reduce surplus stock going to landfill, Nestlé works with FareShare 1st, a social enterprise set-up and owned by the national food charity, FareShare, to distribute quality edible food to Fareshare’s network of community kitchens. 

To make use of by-products, Nestle’s Tutbury and Hayes factories use spent coffee grounds for fuel.  This not only reduces the amount of waste to landfill, but also reduces the factories’ need for non-renewable fuels.  Investing in an advanced waste water treatment plant, Nestlé’s factory in Dalston converts liquid surplus into clean water.  A by-product of this process is sludge, which is recycled by local farmers as a fertilizer.  Further water savings are made through improved monitoring systems installed to detect leakage.