How Are Three Large Brands Pledging To Move Toward 100 Per Cent Recyclable Plastic Packaging?

With all the plastic waste produced each and every year, what can large brands do to help solve the issue and minimize their environmental footprint?

Three large companies – Nestle, Unilever and Dell – are doing their part to reduce their plastic pollution by pledging to move toward 100 per cent recyclable plastic packaging.

What Are Nestle, Unilever and Dell Doing?

Nestle, Unilever and Dell have all recognized the vast impacts of plastic on the oceans and environment, including landfill, and committed to their own strategies of reducing their environmental impact and use of plastics.

Nestle

Nestle – the world’s largest food and beverage company – has a vision to see none of their packaging or plastics ending up in landfill, oceans or the environment and contribute to a waste-free future. Their commitment is to:

Achieve 100 per cent of packaging to be recyclable or reusable by 2025
Currently 85.4 per cent of their packaging is already there
Reduce virgin plastics in packaging by one third by 2025
Pioneer alternative packaging materials to facilitate recycling, achieving a reduction of 8.1 per cent at end of 2021
Support the development of well-functioning collection, sorting and recycling schemes wherever they operate
Scaling up reusable and refillable alternatives where possible.

Unilever

Unilever is also committing to change by 2025, including to:

Halve the amount of virgin plastic used in packaging
Achieve a reduction of more than 100,000 tonnes of virgin plastic
Collect and process more plastic packaging than they sell
Ensure 100 per cent of plastic packaging is fully reusable, recyclable or compostable
Use 25 per cent recycled plastic in their packaging.

Dell

Dell Technologies has worked on creating a supply chain recovering ocean-bound plastics and reusing them in their packaging instead of leaving them in the oceans. They work with suppliers to collect, process and mix plastics with other recycled materials to create molded trays for packaging.

These trays are made from 50 per cent ocean-bound plastic and 50 per cent recycled HDPE plastic with no virgin materials

They have also developed the Next Wave initiative with Lonely Whale to bring the world’s largest companies together to solve the plastic crisis. This group aims to save more than three million pounds of plastic in the next five years from entering the oceans by using it in the manufacture of products and packaging.

How Can Companies Of All Sizes Commit To Solving The Plastic Problem?

More than these three companies can commit to solving the plastic problem in many ways, meaning that both small and large companies can make a difference. Some ideas include:

Committing to reducing plastic packaging
Find alternative packaging options
Creating a recycling, reusing or collecting program
Donating to organizations focused on solving the plastics problem
Switching their office supplies to plastic alternatives and options that can be recycled or composted
Considering composting options.
Finding alternative plastics for any plastic products they manufacture or sell
Partnering with suppliers and clients to create a better future.

How Are Big Businesses Contributing To The Plastic Problem?

When it comes to plastic pollution, unfortunately, may large companies are contributing either directly or indirectly through many ways. In 2021, a list of 20 companies responsible for half of ‘throwaway’ plastic waste was compiled.

These companies were responsible for contributing to plastic pollution through:

Single-use plastics such as the manufacture, sale or use of bottles, bags and food packaging that is then discarded
Fossil fuels used to create these plastics use electricity, water and emit greenhouse gas
Many plastics end up in waterways or the environment
When disposed of in landfill, these plastics can leave behind toxic residue and take decades or centuries to decompose.

It was reported that 20 petrochemical companies are responsible for 55% of the world’s single-use plastic waste. The research also flagged that per head of population, Australia and the United States produced the greatest amounts of throwaway plastics – more than 50kg per person per year in 2019.

South Korea and the United Kingdom generate 44kg and China, 18kg.

How These Brands Are Inspiring Others To Contribute To The Solution?

When big brands such as Unilever, Dell and Nestle commit to reducing their environmental footprint, it inspires other companies both big and small to also make a change. The pressure stems from these big businesses down to suppliers and partner businesses.

By committing to change, these three companies will work with other organizations and partners to reduce plastic pollution which will create a widespread change and also inspire their staff and customers to also consider their purchasing habits and disposal behavior.

Conclusion

Big and small companies contribute to the plastic crisis through manufacture, sale and disposal of plastics such as products, packaging and where these end up at the end of their lifecycle. Some large brands including Dell, Unilever and Nestle are committing to making a change.

These brands in particular are focused on moving toward having 100 per cent recyclable plastic packaging and also considering other options such as partnering with eco-organizations or suppliers to make a difference.