As part of its continued efforts toward environmental sustainability, Nestlé Cares has organised market sensitisation and cleanup activities with over 100 employees from different locations volunteering to clean up seven markets across the country.
Over 500kg of waste was removed from the markets and properly disposed, says a statement by Nestle Nigeria on Friday.
“ This activity is one of the many ways Nestlé Nigeria aims to ensure a sustainable, waste free environment.
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“Every day, by the minute and by the hour, packaging waste of consumed products are disposed of.
“Ensuring that all waste is properly disposed is one of the key pillars in tackling the issues of waste pollution in the environment.
“ In view of this, researchers have said that if awareness and appropriate actions are not put in place, the annual inflow of waste could nearly triple from 2016 to 2040 which could negatively affect climate change in the world.
“This is why Nestlé is committed to tackling plastic waste with a vision that none of her packaging, including plastics, ends up in landfill or as litter,’’ it said.
“In April 2018, Nestlé announced its global ambition of ensuring that 100 per cent of its packaging is reusable or recyclable by 2025.
“To reiterate this commitment, Nestlé inaugurated the Institute of Packaging Sciences in Switzerland, the first-of-its-kind in the food industry.
“With the aim of accelerating efforts to bring functional, safe and environmentally friendly packaging solutions to the market and to address the global challenge of plastic packaging waste.
“In line with its global commitment to environmental sustainability, Nestlé Nigeria is a leading member of the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA).
“The aim of this alliance is to drive Industry collaboration on post consumption waste management and recycling.’’
The statement said in 2019, Nestlé Nigeria also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with WeCyclers, a social enterprise, to tackle the challenge of plastic waste pollution in Nigeria by accelerating the process of recovering and recycling post-consumption plastic packaging waste in Lagos State.
In the same year, the company embarked on public sensitization on the need for proper waste management through the MAGGI MEGA MILLIONS PROMO, with over 100million MAGGI wraps removed from the environment.