BLOOMBERG • July 13, 2024
When Nestle SA tweaked its plastic packaging goals in 2022, few noticed. The shift in language on the website of the world’s largest food maker pledged to mostly use plastic “designed for” recycling by 2025 rather than only use “recyclable” or reusable packaging by next year – its original commitment. The subtle rewording, highlighted publicly here for the first time, might seem like semantics. But the difference amounts to 280,000 metric tons of additional non-recyclable plastic waste a year. It’s a fresh indication that the efforts to curb the use of virgin plastics – including a key pledge made by dozens of companies since 2018 to make all such packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable – are failing.