Nestle Japan has announced that they will be replacing their plastic kit Kat wrappers with recyclable origami papers in a bid to tackle the plastic waste, however, some people say that the company is greenwashing, for a company like Nestle which produces the biggest plastic waste, this could be the most ideal marketing tool.
The company has been blacklisted for so many scandals over the past years and for its incredibly low ethical standards and the amount of consideration about the environment. When a company starts losing its reputation these kinds of marketing stunts are designed to go viral with a pinch of salt and get people to start talking positively about the company.
World largest food company has promised to make 100% of its packaging recyclable by 2025, due to the rising pressure from the environmental groups.
Greenpeace Plastics Campaigner Kate Melges says that “Nestlé has created a monster by producing endless quantities of throwaway plastics that persist in our environment for lifetimes.”
A campaign named “Plastic monster” run by NGO targets to stop the single-use plastic production.
“Over 90% of the plastic ever produced has not been recycled, yet companies are set to dramatically increase the production of plastic packaging over the next decade,” they write.
“People living along rivers and coastlines in Southeast Asia and other communities around the world are among the most impacted by plastic pollution. Even though excessive production of single-use plastic for packaging is the real cause, these communities are often blamed for this crisis.”
“Companies like Nestlé are the ones responsible for the plastic monster that is destroying our planet. But they also have the power to slay this monster by reducing the amount of single-use plastic produced.”
Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner Graham Forbes says. “It will not move the needle toward the reduction of single-use plastics in a meaningful way and sets an incredibly low standard as the largest food and beverage company in the world. The statement is full of ambiguous or nonexistent targets, relies on ‘ambitions’ to do better, and puts the responsibility on consumers rather than the company to clean up its plastic pollution.”
“Identified as one of the worst plastic polluters in cleanups and brand audits around the world, Nestle is accountable to do more to address the problem. It is in the position and has the power and resources to phase out single-use plastics towards zero-waste in its packaging.”
Image credits: Nestlé Japan
