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.
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.