Nestlé Waters North America expands rPET use

Nestlé Waters North America (NWNA), headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, has announced that three more of its U.S. still water brands—Ozarka, Deer Park and Zephyrhills—have started to convert to 100-percent-recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) packaging. The company says this transition means nearly 60 percent of all households in the U.S. will have access to one of its regionally distributed spring water brands in bottles made entirely with recycled plastic.

“We have made significant strides on our journey to use more sustainable packaging,” David Tulauskas, NWNA vice president and chief sustainability officer, says. “Bottles made with other bottles—like these—provide tangible proof that recycling works and the circular economy for plastics is achievable. By using recycled plastic, we are breathing new life into existing materials, reducing the need for new plastic and our carbon footprint and supporting the 757,000 jobs in recycling and reuse activities in the U.S.”

With this change, NWNA has doubled the amount of rPET used since 2019 across its U.S. domestic portfolio to 16.5 percent. NWNA has set a goal to use 25 percent rPET across its U.S. domestic portfolio by 2021 and 50 percent by 2025.

“Based on our own research, we found that consumers value higher amounts of rPET, so we wanted to offer a bottle that was made entirely with 100 percent rPET,” Tulauskas tells Recycling Today. “It is also helping us better understand the operational feasibility, investment requirements and impact of running bottles with 100 percent rPET content.”  

He says long-term agreements and collaborative relationships with suppliers will help the company meet its 2025 recycled-content goal, adding, “we are hoping we can help them invest in their existing operations and expand capacity for more high-quality, food-grade recycled plastic.”

Tulauskas says NWNA often pays more for recycled plastic than for virgin plastic. “This is an investment we prioritize for the business, given our responsibility as a producer of packaged goods and our commitment to sustainability as we work toward a waste-free future.”

Among the company’s rPET suppliers is Los Angeles-based CarbonLite, which recently expanded its Dallas plant that is located near an NWNA bottling facility. Tulauskas says the expansion “allows us to source more material from a location that is better positioned logistically to serve another key region for our brands.”

Insufficient PET bottle recovery could affect NWNA’s ability to fulfill its 2025 recycled-content goal. “To achieve this, there needs to be a robust and stable supply of food-grade recycled content,” he says.

“Unfortunately, less than 30 percent of all plastic bottles are recycled, and many recovered beverage containers are being down-cycled and used in nonfood-contact applications versus being made back into beverage containers.”

Tulauskas continues, “To create a continuous supply of recycled plastic, there needs to be a broad, collective effort by industry, government and NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) to address critical issues related to infrastructure, collection, policy, consumer education and development of end markets for recycled materials. We are encouraged by the accelerated collaboration among these groups, and we will continue to work with them to help increase the use of recycled content in packaging, encourage packaging design that is compatible with the recycling system, improve recycling infrastructure and curbside access and educate consumers about the impact they can make by recycling.”

To help consumers identify the new 100-percent-rPET bottles, all three brands will include a message on the labels of the 20-ounce, 700-milliliter, 1-liter and 1.5L-liter bottles stating they are 100 percent recyclable and made from 100-percent-recycled plastic, NWNA says. Ozarka will launch a TV, digital and social media campaign this summer to inform Texans of the new rPET bottles. Understanding that bottles need to be recycled to create bottles with other bottles, Zephyrhills will launch limited-edition labels that encourage consumers to recycle with the message: “I’m not trash! I’m 100 percent recyclable.” This message will accompany the “100 percent recycled” message on the applicable bottle sizes.

Tulauskas says the company is taking multiple approaches to encourage consumers to recycle. “NWNA was the first beverage company to add How2Recycle information on the labels of our major U.S. brands, and in 2019, we collaborated with The Recycling Partnership to launch an Instagram recycling hotline to help Americans understand what is recyclable in their communities. As a complement to the Instagram recycling hotline, we added QR codes on our labels, allowing consumers to follow the journey of their water, including what to do with the bottle when empty.”

NWNA advocates for “pragmatic policy, including minimum-recycled-content bills and the modernization of bottle deposit bills," he says.

Tulauskas adds, “We support pragmatic and progressive legislation at both the state and federal level. With respect to deposit return systems, or primary focus is on strengthening the 10 programs that currently exist today with a specific focus in the Northeast, where five of the programs are located. At the same time, we are advocating for mandatory recycled-content standards to strengthen demand for recycled content, which we believe will stimulate supply.”

To help underfunded and outdated recycling infrastructure in the U.S., NWNA has invested $6 million in the Closed Loop Infrastructure Fund to support projects that help increase recycling capabilities throughout the country.

“The Closed Loop Infrastructure Fund has invested in 27 companies across the U.S. and Canada that have helped to improve collection, sortation and processing of valuable recyclable material,” Tulauskas says. “These projects have contributed $13.5 million of economic benefit to municipalities, helped keep 1.5 million tons of materials out of landfills and in the economy and avoided 3.5 million metric tons of CO2 e emissions. This fund gives investors an opportunity to play a part in improving our outdated and underfunded recycling infrastructure, and these projects give citizens in each of the respective communities an opportunity to make a real difference by recycling more.”