Nestlé aims to use on average 15% less packaging in the confectionery sharing bags
Nestlé has redesigned confectionery sharing bags to use less packaging. (Credit: Nestlé)
Nestlé announced that it has decided to use less packaging in its redesigned confectionery sharing bags in the UK and Ireland.
The company intends to use on average 15% less packaging in the confectionery sharing bags, thereby helping to save 83 tonnes of virgin plastic and eliminate 130 tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum.
Nestlé will provide its Milkybar, Aero Bubbles, Munchies, Rolo, Yorkie, and Rowntree’s Randoms in new narrower pouches from next month.
Nestlé stated that it sells around 140 million confectionery sharing bags in the UK and Ireland per annum.
Nestlé Confectionery sustainability head Cheryl Allen said: “Nestlé is working hard to reduce its use of virgin plastic by one-third by 2025. Removing 15 percent of the packaging from our sharing bags is an important step towards this goal.
“The move will not only save on the amount of virgin plastic we use each year, it will have significant benefits throughout our supply chain in the UK and Ireland.”
Nestlé is also planning to recycle plastic wrappers that are not currently collected at the kerbside, in addition to reducing the amount of packaging used.
Nestlé has already collaborated with TerraCycle to help consumers recycle confectionery wrappers.
Flexible plastic packaging can be placed at around 300 TerraCycle recycling points across the UK and Ireland.
The waste will be shipped to a specialist recycler, where it will be transformed into plastic pellets to produce new products such as outdoor furniture and storage boxes.
Nestlé is also a member of the Flexible Packaging Consortium, which includes Ella’s Kitchen, Mars and Taylors of Harrogate/ All of them working with waste and recycling expert SUEZ.
Recently, the consortium announced a new report, which recommended increasing flexible packaging recycling in the UK.
In January this year, Nestlé announced the launching of the Smarties brand in recyclable paper packaging.