Q.What is Nestlé Waters Canada’s role in recycling efforts, once the product has been consumed?
A.Every plastic bottle we produce is 100 percent recyclable and we encourage people to do their part to recycle them. Nestlé Waters Canada, as part of the industry stewardship program, financially supports the Province of Ontario's highly successful blue box recycling system. In Ontario, all water bottlers, through participation in Stewardship Ontario, do our part to support recycling by paying 50 percent of the municipal recycling costs for our products in the province.
Q.What is Nestlé Waters Canada doing to help find solutions to the technical issues associated with biodegradable bottles?
A.Nestlé Waters, both in the U.S and in Europe, is exploring new environmentally minded packaging technologies that may include recycled content or other innovations.
Q.What about all the discarded water bottles that are ending-up in landfills? What is Nestlé Waters Canada doing to reduce this environmental effect?
A.Nestlé Waters Canada, like many manufacturers, is trying to reduce packaging. For example, since 2000, we have reduced the plastic content in our packaging by approximately 30 percent. We have also dramatically reduced our corrugate use, by 88,000 tons between 2004 and 2008. Our 500 millilitre “Eco-Shape” bottle, introduced in 2007, is among the lightest in beverage history. All of our packaging is 100 percent recyclable. Nestlé Waters Canada promotes the recycling of our bottles. We also actively support long-term research into new environmentally focused packaging technologies such as biodegradable bottles. When possible, Nestlé Waters Canada works to reduce its various facilities' waste by reusing items such as wooden pallets and shipping containers.
Q.You talk about being environmentally responsible, but in addition to producing products that can be recycled, what you doing?
A.Nestlé Waters Canada is a leader in conserving natural resources and minimizing waste. In 2006, we invested $2.5 million in new technology that made our Aberfoyle bottling facility 10 percent more water efficient. We hope to reduce our water use by another 20 percent this year (2008). In addition to finding ways to conserve water, we are also working to find ways to reduce our overall environmental footprint. Our new $15 million warehouse expansion, expected to begin in 2008, will reduce the number of trucks traveling to and from our facility by 1,500 a year.
Q.Aren't plastic water bottles a problem because they end up in landfills rather than being recycled?
A.In 2006, 97 percent of Canadians had access to at least one form of recycling program, and 97 percent of those with a programs made use of it. More specifically, 93 percent of Canadians had access to a plastics recycling program and 95 percent of them used it. In fact, usage of plastics and glass recycling is higher than any other program, including Paper (74 percent) and Metal Cans (90 percent). PET products are among the top three most valuable recyclable materials ($364 per tonne; compare to newsprint at $96 per tonne, glass at $20 per tonne). By comparison, in the US, 34 percent of plastic beverage containers were recycled in 2005. Only half of US households have access to curb-side recycling. Every bottle produced by Nestle Waters Canada is recyclable, and recycled bottles are in high demand for use in products such as fabric, carpeting and other consumer goods. As much as 70 to 75 percent of plastic containers are recycled in regions within Canada. Since 1994, recycling of plastic has increased by 24 percentage points.
Q.Does Nestlé Waters Canada use recycled materials in its bottles?
A.We're currently testing recycled PET in the Calistoga markets to study its feasibility. There are some challenges with recycled PET, especially in terms of its cost compared to virgin PET, but as technologies and market dynamics evolve, those challenges may go away. Right now, the cost premium can be as high as 20 percent in the U.S. and 30 percent in Europe.
Q.How much money does the lighter “Eco-Shape” bottle save your company a year?
A.“Eco-Shape” has both business and environmental benefits. In the long run we will save money with “Eco-Shape” because we're using less plastic than before. But modernizing our plants to produce these new bottles also required a significant up-front investment. Because the bottles are lighter and require less energy to produce and transport, there is also an immediate environmental benefit.
Q.Is recycling a better solution than waste reduction? Your critics say single-use plastic water bottles aren't necessary at all and advocate that people drink tap water from reusable containers instead.
A.We need – and are working on – both. The reality is that nearly 70 percent of what people drink each day comes in a pre-packaged container. There are some places where getting tap water is not realistic, and we're giving consumers a way to get a healthy, no-calorie beverage in those situations. We also desire to lighten our environmental footprint – and waste reduction is a big part of that. As of May 2009 our new ”Eco-Shape” bottle is the lightest plastic beverage container currently available on store shelves – and it is significantly lighter than the typical soda or sports drink bottle. The bottle is 100 percent recyclable and we strongly encourage consumers to recycle them rather than throw them in the trash.
Q.Why doesn't Nestlé Waters Canada use something better than PET for its bottles? Why aren't the bottles made from recycled PET?A.Nestlé Waters Canada globally is supporting long-term research into new environmentally focused packaging technologies such as biodegradable bottles. Until those become viable, we'll keep working on reducing the amount of plastic in our bottles. PLA (corn-based bottles) are being researched and tested, but these bottles present several challenges:
- First, they are non-compatible with the Canadian recycling process. If they go into the system they can cause damage to recycling machinery; and
- Second, these bottles are not currently considered stable for long-term use (potential leakage);
- We continue to monitor this technology.
Q.Is Nestlé Waters Canada moving towards using biodegradable plastics?
A.Nestle Waters globally is looking into finding solutions to the technical issues associated with biodegradable bottles.
Q.If supply of recycled PET is low and costs are high, isn't it in your best interest – and the environment's – to re-capture used PET and make new bottles out of it?
A.There is no lack of demand for recycled PET – there is a lack of supply. Using more recycled PET in Nestlé Waters Canada bottles right now would not increase supply. Our top recycling priority is to increase the supply of recycled PET through better recycling programs that capture all plastic food and beverage containers. We are working on collaborations to develop and advance these programs. PET technology is constantly evolving and as new products come to market, we evaluate them to see what will best suit our needs from a quality and cost perspective. In the short term, we're focused on light weighting our bottles, but we're also exploring other ways to reduce our environmental footprint.
Q.Since you manufacture bottled water and put plastic containers into consumers' hands don't you also have a responsibility to collect and properly dispose of these containers?
A.Every plastic bottle we produce is 100 percent recyclable and we encourage people to do their part to recycle them. Nestlé Waters Canada, as part of the industry stewardship program, financially supports Ontario’s highly successful blue box system. In Ontario, all water bottlers, through participation in Stewardship Ontario, do our part to support recycling by paying 50 percent of the municipal recycling costs for our products in the province.