(Credit: Planet Ark on Twitter)Nestlé Australia has committed to adding the Australasian Recycling Label to all locally made products by 2020. The new labels from the Australian environmental organization Planet Ark aim to help businesses in Australia and New Zealand reduce consumer confusion about recycling.
The new label first started appearing on two types of candy from the Nestlé Australia brand Allen’s in August. Strawberries & Cream and Snakes Alive were the first to have the label. In addition, the Allen’s candy packaging is getting the REDcycle logo, which shows that the soft plastic can be recycled through an in-store program.
Planet Ark says that the Australasian Recycling Label is an evidence-based system that provides easy-to-understand recycling information. Each label indicates if the packaging can be placed in curbside recycling, is conditionally recyclable, or is not recyclable. For conditional recycling, the label shows instructions.
“Consumers have good intentions when it comes to recycling, but they need clearer information,” said Nestlé Australia CEO Sandra Martinez. “The Australasian Recycling Label will help to remove confusion, increase recycling rates, and decrease contamination in recycling streams by helping consumers navigate the process.”
Although recycling programs vary greatly around the world, reducing consumer confusion is a global aim for Nestlé. In 2017, Nestlé Waters became the first beverage manufacturer in North America to include the Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s How2Reycle label on the half-liter bottles of all its major US brands.
Earlier this year, Nestlé announced a global goal to make 100% of the company’s packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025. In order to get there, the company is focusing on three main areas: eliminate non-recyclable plastics, encourage the use of plastics that allow better recycling rates, and eliminate or change complex combinations of packaging materials.
Recently Nestlé pledged to increase the amount of recycled plastics used in some of its European Union packaging. Depending on the packaging type, bottles, PET layer in laminates, caps on glass jars and tins, trays for meat products, and shrink films for display trays will all contain at least between 25% and 50% recycled material by 2025, the company said.
“Recyclable packaging, good recycling infrastructure and more use of recycled material will help us close the loop,” said Marco Settembri, Nestlé CEO for Zone Europe, Middle East and North Africa.
