Nestlé joins Project STOP as new strategic partner to tackle marine litter

Borealis and SYSTEMIQ, together with their partners from the Government of Norway, NOVA Chemicals, Borouge and Veolia, are pleased to welcome Nestlé as new strategic partner of Project STOP (Stop Ocean Plastics), a frontline initiative to prevent ocean plastic leakage in Southeast Asia.

“It’s extremely concerning that the lack of sustainable waste management systems and practices have contributed to the escalation of the problem of marine litter,” explains Borealis CEO Alfred Stern. “We are excited to welcome Nestlé as a new strategic partner of Project STOP, and we look forward to new partners and alliances on our journey to scale up this initiative.”

Nestlé today laid out its vision to achieve a waste-free future and announced a series of specific actions towards meeting its April 2018 commitment to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025, with a particular focus on avoiding plastic-waste. Nestlé has a longer-term ambition to stop plastic leakage into the environment across its global operations. This will help avoid further accumulation of plastics in nature and achieve plastic neutrality.

As part of this ambition, Nestlé has become the first food company to join Project STOP, a frontline effort to prevent waste from entering the ocean, increase plastic recycling and benefit local communities.

“Plastic waste is an increasing threat to ocean ecosystems and communities, and it is a symptom of a linear - rather than a circular - model of consumption. STOP is designed to change this and and prove that end-of-use plastic (packaging) can be collected and returned into valuable resources while providing livelihoods to many," comments Martin R. Stuchtey, Founder and Managing Partner of SYSTEMIQ. “The momentum and early impact of Project STOP show that we are on the right track. We hope this effort, with the continued engagement of our partners, will further expand at speed and scale to make Indonesia a model for what can be achieved across Asia and the world.”

“We are very pleased to be the first food and beverage company to join Project STOP. For us, this is an important pilot, which is part of our broader vision to achieve a waste-free future, aligned with our commitment to make 100% of our packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025, says Magdi Batato, Global Head of Operations, Nestlé. “Over the coming months, we will take the learnings from this project to other countries where we operate in an effort to deliver ‘plastic neutrality’ in those markets.”