Nestlé has announced plans to establish the Nestlé Institute of Packaging Sciences in a bid to develop safe and environmentally friendly packaging solutions.
This initiative is part of the company’s commitment to making 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.
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The institute will create around 50 jobs and will become part of the company’s global research organisation in Lausanne, Switzerland. It will also feature a laboratory complex and rapid prototyping facilities.
Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider said: “We want to be a leader in developing the most sustainable packaging solutions for our food and beverage products.
“To achieve this, we are enhancing our research capabilities to develop new packaging materials and solutions. Through this, we hope to address the growing packaging waste problem, in particular plastics.
“We aim to minimise our impact on the natural environment while safely delivering to our consumers healthier and tastier products.”
The institute will work collaboratively with the company’s global R&D network, academic partners, suppliers and start-ups to evaluate various sustainable packaging materials for safety and functionality.
It will focus on various areas such as recyclable, biodegradable or compostable polymers, functional paper, and new packaging concepts and technologies to increase plastic packaging recyclability.
Nestlé will test various product categories in the institute before introducing them across the company’s global portfolio.
As part of its commitment to tackling environmental pollution caused by plastic waste, Nestlé signed The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment in November.
