Nestle Australia is to package KitKat bars in 30 per cent recycled soft plastic wrapper – the first market in the world where Nestle will use such hybrid packaging.
Beginning next year, more than 40 million 45g KitKat bars will be packed in 30 per cent soft plastic wrapper, reducing virgin plastic use by an estimated 250,000 sqm.
With a plan to cut its use of virgin plastic by a third by 2025, the initiative marks only the first step in a long journey towards sustainability, says Chris O’Donnell, GM at Nestle Oceania.
“We’ve implemented several changes to reduce our use of virgin plastic, but this switch, the first of its kind, will be a huge change.”
According to O’Donnell, soft plastic with recycled content suitable for food packaging isn’t widely available, and the company hopes to increase the amount it uses in packaging as more becomes available.
Australian purchasers of KitKat 45g bars are able to recycle the empty wrappers through RedCycle, a nationwide program to help keep plastics and packaging out of landfills.
The 30 per cent food-grade recycled plastic wrapper is supplied by Finnish consumer packaging, Huhtamaki and the recycled content has been allocated using the mass balance approach that is certified by ISCC.