Business
NESTLE Nigeria, has introduced new bottles including 50 per cent recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (rPET), to reduce the use of virgin plastics in its packaging.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nestle is one of the largest food and beverage company in Africa,
Speaking at the official presentation of the new Nestle Pure Life bottles in Abuja on Wednesday, Mr Wassim Elhusseini, the Managing Director of the company, said they had been working with partners to recover as much plastics as they sold.
According to him, in 2021, we started on the step by teaming up with ALEF, a recycling company to achieve our objective of cutting virgin plastic in our packaging by a third by 2025.
He commended the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) for ensuring compliance to the highest standards.
”Today, we are very proud to be the first to achieve this milestone of 50 per cent rPET inclusion in our water bottles in Nigeria.
”Thanks to the resilience of our team working with ALEF to produce food grade PET in Nigeria.
”Nestlé Nigeria has been at the forefront of efforts to develop well-functioning collection, sorting and recycling systems for PET in Nigeria.
”We have also been at the front from introducing innovative bottles to collaborating with other stakeholders for increased collection while building an eco-system for recycling.
”ALEF was instrumental to achieving the 50 per cent rPET in Nestlé Pure Life bottles,” he said.
The Category and Marketing Manager, Nestlé Waters, Ms Joy Abdulahi-Johnson said the company was taking steps to minimise the impact of their production process on the environment.
Mr Wissam Ramlawi, the Managing Director of ALEF Recycling Company said they worked with regulators and suppliers to achieve the desired food-grade quality standards for rPET.
“This has been a long, rigorous journey for us, working with Nestlé’s technical and quality assurance teams to comply with their demanding standards and procedures.”
Mr Francis Onuorah, the Director, Chemical and non-Petrochemical Industrial Development Department, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, said that quality was key to the new rPET project to ensure sustainability.
Onuorah who represented the Minister, Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite, said that awareness was also required to realise the project.
”We have trainings for plastics pickers known as ‘baba-mbolas’ to create awareness in the plastic value chain.
”We will continue to encourage Nigerian on that value chain,” he said.
Mr Chukwudi Nwabuisiaku, the Assistant Director, Plastics Waste Control in NESREA, said the agency was not against plastics but plastics pollution.
Nwabuisiaku said that Nestle was a member of food and beverage alliance.
”We are calling on others to do same, that is why Nestle is using technology, innovation to improve what they are doing.
”Nigeria has the market and this is the new normal,” he said.
The new bottles have some graphics on the label different from the old ones. (NAN)
A.
-December 13, 2023 @ 19:12 GMT|
Tags: Mr Wassim Elhusseini Mr Wissam Ramlawi Ms Joy Abdulahi-Johnson NAFDAC Nestle Nigeria
