Nestlé S.A., Switzerland, and Veolia, a France-based resource management company, announced a collaboration to work on waste collection, sorting and recycling of plastic material, with a particular emphasis on flexible plastic packaging. Projects will focus on 11 priority countries across Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe.

The partnership will also explore technologies to establish viable models of recycling in different countries. This includes chemical recycling technologies like pyrolysis, which is capable to produce virgin quality plastic. These technologies will help Nestlé to increase its overall product packaging to 15% by 2025.

"Plastic waste is a challenge that requires an ecosystem of solutions all working simultaneously,” says Magdi Batato, executive vice president, head of operations, Nestlé. “This partnership is another specific step to accelerate our efforts in addressing the critical issue of plastic waste. Leveraging on Veolia's technology and expertise, we will start with pilot projects in multiple countries, with the intention of scaling these up globally."

"I am very pleased and welcome the opportunity of this partnership with a global food and beverage leader like Nestlé, in the quest for a more circular economy of plastics,” adds Laurent Auguste, senior executive vice president for development, innovation and markets, Veolia. “Our expertise in resource recovery and recycling has positioned us to tackle this issue with global brands and other value-chain actors across all continents. We believe it is time to move toward more recycling of materials, and we are happy to help our clients be ever more inventive, so they can keep improving our quality of life, whilst protecting our planet and its resources."

This partnership is in line with Nestlé’s commitment to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.