“Designed-to-be-recycled”: Nestlé launches single-material baby food packaging

06 Mar 2020 --- Swiss food giant Nestlé has released what is marketed as the first-of-its-kind, single-material pouch for baby food products. The “designed-to-be-recycled” pouch is made from polypropylene (PP) and was developed in partnership with Gualapack, a manufacturer of premade spouted pouches. The move concerns products of Nestlé’s baby food brand Gerber and is in line with Nestlé’s commitment to make 100 percent of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025. The company also stresses that the initiative is an important milestone in creating a wider market for recycled plastics that are safe for food.

“Plastic packaging plays an important role in safely delivering high-quality food and drinks to consumers and reducing food loss and waste, so we need to carefully consider alternatives before making changes. We believe that with the right approach, collection and recycling of it is possible without causing a detrimental effect on the environment,” notes Thierry Philardeau, Head of the Nutrition Strategic Business Unit, Nestlé. 

“We are introducing this pouch for our baby food products in the US and Finland. We aim to gradually extend the use of single-material pouches to our baby food pouches range globally – further details will be announced when they become available. We will continue to work with other stakeholders to ensure that the infrastructure needed to recycle matches material innovation,” a Nestlé spokesperson tells PackagingInsights.

Innova Market Insights previously identified “Recyclable by design” as its number one trend in packaging for 2019. Widespread bans on single-use plastics, the implementation of China’s “National Sword” policy and increasing media attention around the environmental scourge of plastic pollution have intensified the demand for recycle-ready packaging solutions.

Innova Market Insights previously identified “Recyclable by design” as its number one trend in packaging for 2019.In the US, the new pouch will be available exclusively online for Gerber’s Organic Banana Mango Puree beginning in May 2020. It will be 100 percent recyclable through Gerber’s national recycling program with TerraCycle. In Finland, the pouch will be available for Piltti’s Apple Pear Blueberry Raspberry widely sold in supermarkets.

Switching to PP
This switch to PP – a versatile form of plastic available commercially – is expected to make more plastics infinitely recyclable and increase the value of the material for the recycling industry.

“Designing with a single material creates greater value for the recycling industry, promoting the development of better recycling infrastructure,” highlights Associate Director of Packaging at Gerber, Tony Dzikowicz. “After more than two years of experimenting and innovating, we were able to help create a first-of-its-kind solution for baby food that meets the safety and freshness requirements for our little ones.”

With Nestlé as a founding member of Materials Recovery for the Future (MRFF), a research collaborative committed to creating recycling solutions, the Gerber brand is helping to expand curbside recycling for the pouch – and all baby food pouches. MRFF’s pilot program in Pottstown, US is now the first curbside recycling program in the country to accept flexible plastics such as these.

 The move concerns products of Nestlé’s baby food brand Gerber.“We believe the baby food industry should help create a world where babies thrive, and initiatives like this one help us go beyond nutrition to protect the planet,” notes Bill Partyka, Gerber’s President and CEO. “We’re committed to making 100 percent of our packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025, and this pouch is an important step in promoting the development of better recycling infrastructure. 

Reducing the net environmental impact
Gerber’s sustainability efforts go beyond packaging, with a focus on reducing energy use, water use and carbon emissions in its factories, and upholding some of the industry’s strongest agricultural standards through its Clean Field Farming practices. Gerber is also continuing to expand its US Department of Agriculture Certified Organic product lines.

Nestlé’s 2018 Creating Shared Value report shares detailed information about its issues, impacts and performance against its sustainability commitments during the year. The 2019 Creating Shared Value report will be published within the next few weeks, the spokesperson concludes.

Packaging in the infant nutrition space has seen some other recent innovations. Last month, Danone launched a digitally-enabled data service for baby formula applications called Track & Connect that gives consumers and retailers greater transparency on the product’s farm-to-fork journey. 

Nestlé has also announced that it has signed up to the European Plastics Pact to help it achieve 100 percent recyclable or reusable packaging and reduce the use of virgin plastics by one third by 2025. The European Plastics Pact, initiated by France and the Netherlands, is designed to accelerate the transition towards a circular plastics economy and stop the sole dependence on virgin plastics made from non-renewable fossil fuel.

By Kristiana Lalou