Few noticed when Nestle SA tweaked its plastic packaging targets for 2022. The change in language on the world’s largest food maker’s website meant that it pledged to use mostly plastics designed for recycling by 2025, rather than an earlier promise to use only “recyclable” or reusable packaging by next year.
This subtle change, highlighted publicly for the first time, may seem like a semantic one, but the latest data from 2022 shows that the difference amounts to an additional 280,000 tonnes of non-recyclable plastic waste per year – enough to weigh as much as 30 Eiffel Towers or 1,400 Statues of Liberty.