Nestlé is choking our oceans with plastic. Tonnes of the corporation’s discarded packaging enters marine ecosystems each year -- poisoning fish, trapping sea birds and endangering human health.

So what is the Swiss food giant doing about it?
 
In a statement released this month, Nestlé said it will make 100 percent of packaging “reusable or recyclable” by 2025. But read the fine print, and you’ll see this doesn’t actually mean reducing plastic waste.
 
Instead, Nestlé’s one-page plan is mostly based on telling consumers to recycle more. It includes no clear targets or timeline, just one vague promise after another. This multi-billion-euro corporation can and should do better -- and it will, but only if we make it clear that we’re not satisfied.
 
Tell Nestlé to make a real plan to go waste-free now!
 
The April statement attempts to assuage eco-conscious consumers by promising to “explore different packaging solutions” and “play an active role” in recycling schemes. But that’s not enough. A Greenpeace beach clean-up on the Philippines’ Freedom Island last year found more Nestlé products than any other.
 
If Nestlé really cared about the environment, it wouldn’t put the blame on citizens for not properly recycling its products -- it would set goals to phase out the use of plastic altogether. This wouldn’t just mean less Nestlé plastic in the ocean: if a corporation of their size took that step, it could inspire others to follow suit, finally putting us on a path to a zero-waste world.
 
But here’s the thing: from palm oil to groundwater grabbing, Nestlé has shown it’ll only act ethically if consumers like us take the company to task.
 
SumOfUs members have already helped achieve major victories in the war on waste: whether getting McDonald’s to start phasing out plastic straws, or forcing the EU Commission to finally tackle single-use plastics. And we have a real chance of winning this, but only if we put enough pressure on Nestlé that they have to start listening.
 
Nestlé: Help save the ocean before it’s too late. Set targets for reducing plastic waste now!

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