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Nestlé suppports Pledge 4 Plastics campaign to recycle one more bottle per household per week

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Nestlé UK & Ireland supports Pledge 4 Plastics, a government backed national initiative which aims to boost recycling of plastic packaging in the UK.

Led by Recoup, a plastics recycling charity, it has been developed with partners including Nestlé UK Nestlé Waters , Coca Cola Enterprises, Marks & Spencer, Unilever, RPC, Veolia, Closed Loop Recycling, Valpak, Kent Resource Partnership, Surrey County Council, PlasticsEurope, WRAP and Defra.

Nestle backs Pledge 4 Plastics

The initiative is in response to challenging recycling targets set by UK Government for the packaging industry for the period 2013-17 which mean recycling levels need to double over the five year period.

Alison Ingle, Nestlé UK & Ireland Group Packaging Manager said: 

"Nestlé are very proud to be supporting the Pledge 4 Plastics initiative. Working together on the campaign, we have developed a clear communication plan that will help to increase consumers understanding of plastic recycling and hopefully have a positive effect on the amount of plastic packaging recycled in the UK."

Siân Chapman, Nestlé Waters Corporate Communications and CSV Manager added:

“Nestlé Waters is delighted to be involved in this ground breaking initiative, which has seen people from a cross sector of responsibilities come together and pool areas of expertise to launch such a joined up campaign. It is encouraging to see that, when dealing with complex topics such as recycling, collaborations can work and Pledge 4 Plastics will hopefully deliver some great results for society.”

Notes to editors:

  • All 407 local authorities in the UK offer some form of collection service for plastic bottles with nearly 100% collecting directly from homes.
  • Collections for pots, tubs and trays are increasing with over 60% of local authorities offering a kerbside recycling collection.
  • An estimated 2.5 million tonnes of plastics packaging is used in the UK each year.
  • An estimated 540,000 tonnes of plastic bottles are used by UK households each year – that’s about 33 million bottles every day.
  • Over 316,000 tonnes of plastic bottles were collected for recycling from UK households in 2012 – that’s a recycling rate of 58% and means that:
    • An estimated 7 billion plastic bottles were collected for recycling – that’s 19 million bottles every day.
    • Nearly 5 billion plastic bottles were sent to landfill in 2012 – that’s nearly 14 million plastic bottles every day.
    • Overall this means the average UK household uses over 440 plastic bottles per year, but only recycles just over 250 of them.