Nestlé Waters says it will achieve 25 per cent recycled plastic use by 2021

With the help of what it calls a key Canadian supplier, beverage maker Nestlé Waters North America has announced that it will achieve 25 per cent recycled plastic across its U.S. domestic portfolio by 2021.

Stamford, Conn.-based Nestlé Waters also plans to continue expanding its use of recycled materials in the coming years, further setting an ambition to reach 50 per cent recycled plastic by 2025.

The company is expanding its relationship with supplier Plastrec Inc., of Joliette, Que., and also working with other suppliers in order to nearly quadruple its use of food-grade recycled plastic, or rPET, in less than three years. Founded in 1992, Plastrec produces rPET resin from post-consumer containers. On its website, Plastrec says it buys approximately 2 billion PET containers annually from different municipal programs in Quebec, Ontario, and the U.S.

Nestlé Waters’ latest announcement comes on the heels of its announcement last month about the expansion of its partnership with CarbonLITE, as the rPET supplier builds a third U.S. facility in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania.

“We want to take the ‘single’ out of ‘single-use’ bottles. Our bottles were never meant to be thrown in the garbage – we carefully design them to be collected, recycled, and repurposed,” Fernando Mercé, president and CEO of Nestlé Waters North America, said in a statement. “PET plastic is a valuable resource that, if recycled properly, can be used to create new bottles again and again. We’re proving that it can be done by making bottles out of other bottles, not ten years from now, but today.”