Nestlé pledges zero waste in Europe by 2020

17-Oct-2013 - Last updated on 18-Oct-2013 at 11:39 GMT

Thirty-nine Nestlé factories had achieved the zero waste goal by the end of last year

Nestlé has said it intends to eliminate all waste from its 150 European factories by the end of the decade.

The world’s biggest food company, Nestlé had already achieved its zero waste goal in 39 of its 468 factories around the world by the end of 2012, including in all of its plants in the UK and Switzerland. Specifically, the company aims to have no waste going to landfill or being incinerated without energy being recovered from the process.

The company has been recognised for its sustainability efforts in recent months, topping Oxfam’s Behind the Brands sustainability scorecard back in February, and also taking the NGO’s ‘most improved’ plaudit last month, along with Unilever. In addition, Nestlé was the number one food company in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index released last month, with a score of 88% – twice the industry average.

“The decision to achieve zero waste illustrates Nestlé’s commitment to environmentally sustainable business practices,” said Laurent Freixe, Nestlé executive vice president and zone director for Europe.

“We already have over 25 factories in Europe that do not dispose of waste into the environment.

“By relentlessly eliminating all sources of waste, or by recycling or recovering energy from unavoidable residues, I am convinced we can achieve the same for all our European operations.”

Reusing raw materials

One of the main ways that the company has sought to reach its zero waste target has been through reusing waste materials in the supply chain, such as milk, coffee beans and cocoa, and transforming them into value-added food products or energy sources.

The company gave the example of its Nescafé instant coffee brand, which originated as a way to use up unsold Brazilian coffee beans 75 years ago. Today, spent coffee grounds are a source of renewable energy in more than 20 Nescafé factories, and in other factories, product losses are processed for use in animal feed.

1 comment

End Nestlé products waste

Posted by Rod Averbuch, 18 October 2013 - 18:16 GMT

The large amount of food waste is a lose-lose situation for the environment, retailers, Nestlé and the struggling families in today’s tough economy. The excess inventory of Nestlé’s food items close to their expiration in supermarkets causes waste.
Why not let the consumer perform Nestlé products rotation in the supermarket by offering him purchasing incentives for products approaching their expiration dates?
There is a new GS1 DataBar global standard that enables an automatic incentive offering application for food close to its expiration.
The EndGroceryWaste application, which is based on GS1 DataBar standard, encourages efficient consumer shopping behavior that maximizes grocery retailer revenue and makes fresh food affordable for all families while effectively reducing the global carbon footprint. You can look this application up at EndGroceryWaste site.

Rod,
Chicago, IL