Nestlé has announced that it is collaborating with other industry partners to design a fully recyclable, compostable fibre cup as part of the NextGen Consortium and Cup Challenge.
The move is a part of the company's efforts to address the problem of plastic pollution, and a step towards its goal of making 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.
A Collaborative Effort
Chief technology officer of Nestlé, Stefan Palzer, said, "Solving the issue of plastic waste requires collaboration among many different stakeholders.
"We are excited to join the NextGen Consortium and Cup Challenge as it brings together start-ups, industry partners and suppliers to find an industry-wide, global packaging solution for sustainable to-go cups."
The Consortium and Challenge are managed by Closed Loop Partners, with Starbucks and McDonald’s as founding partners, The World Wildlife Fund as an advisory partner, The Coca-Cola Company and Yum! Brands as supporting partners.
Nestlé has also joined as a supporting partner.
'Deep Commitment'
Bridget Croke, vice-president of external affairs at Closed Loop Partners said, "We're thrilled that Nestlé has joined the NextGen Consortium and Cup Challenge.
"This demonstrates its deep commitment to reducing plastic waste and bringing their expertise to the table to help advance the discovery of global, sustainable solutions."
The NextGen Consortium is a multi-year, multi-industry global consortium that aims to develop the design, commercialisation, and recovery of food packaging alternatives.
NextGen Cup Challenge
The NextGen Cup Challenge is the first initiative of the Consortium.
The Challenge was launched in October of 2018, and the winners will be announced this month.
Up to six winners will be invited to enter an accelerator program to help scale up and commercialise their solutions.
Winners will receive a portion of up to USD 1 million in funding to help advance their idea through the supply chain and into consumers’ hands.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
