Environment

Nestlé Waters North America Celebrates America Recycles Day

Nov 15, 2017 10:00 AM ET
Campaign: Nestlé in the U.S.: Healthy Planet

STAMFORD, Conn., November 15, 2017 /3BL Media/ – Today is America Recycles Day, a nationally recognized day meant to promote and celebrate recycling in the United States, and like many organizations around the country, Nestlé Waters North America is marking the day by reflecting on the momentum built in the past year, and recommitting ourselves to doing our part to address recycling issues in the United States.

According to Keep America Beautiful, the nonprofit responsible for the national recycling observance, the recycling rate in America is only 34 percent. Aside from the environmental impacts, municipalities and businesses in the U.S. spent over $5 billion in 2015 alone disposing of waste in landfills. Much of this waste, such as PET plastic, is in demand among manufacturers as raw material for everything from textiles to packaging. 

“Ensuring the recovery and reuse of plastic and other materials is critical to the sustainability of our planet, and requires commitment from government, nonprofits, companies and individuals to work together to address this shared challenge,” says Nelson Switzer, Chief Sustainability Officer at Nestlé Waters North America. “The U.S. has an opportunity to lead the way in recycling, while creating jobs, economic growth, and a more sustainable future. We are dedicated to playing our part to ensure the long-term vitality of our natural resources for ourselves and for future generations.”

In the past year alone, Nestlé Waters has demonstrated our leadership in driving solutions to address the recycling gap in the United States by championing and undertaking a number of initiatives, including:

  • Partnering with Keep America Beautiful, through our regional spring water brand Zephyrhills®, to distribute a total of 220 recycling bins to help increase access to recycling on beaches and other public recreation locations along Florida’s waterways. The project has resulted in the recycling nearly 320,000 additional bottles and cans within the first six months. 
  • Reaching a critical milestone in our use of recycled plastic content (rPET), announcing that 9 out of 10 of our California-born Arrowhead® Mountain Spring Water bottles incorporate 50% post-consumer recycled plastic content.  As a result, 1.8 billion bottles have been kept from landfills, and the 86 million pounds of recycled plastic has saved 69,660 tons of carbon emissions – the equivalent of 39,000 round trip flights from New York to Los Angeles.
  • Adding the clear and consistent How2Recycle® label to all half-liter bottles of our major U.S. brands. This includes our purified water brand Nestlé® Pure Life®, as well as our regional spring water brands: Poland Spring®, Deer Park®, Ice Mountain®, Zephyrhills®, Ozarka® and Arrowhead®. How2Recycle is the only U.S.-based standardized labeling system that communicates recyclability information on the package to consumers.
  • Launching comprehensive, in-home recycling pilots out of our ReadyRefresh℠ branches in Syosset, New York and Orange County, California. Customers in these areas are now able to schedule pick-up of their used Nestlé beverage containers at the same time as their regularly scheduled ReadyRefresh delivery.
  • Partnering with the company Dart at our Tradewinds Tea factory in Carlisle, OH to begin recovering and reusing used tea leaves as compost for local farms and gardens. To date, the project has diverted more than 260 tons of waste from landfills, and accounts for approximately 50% of the company’s 2017 landfill reduction goal. Nestlé has previously committed to achieve zero-waste-to-landfill status by 2020.
  • Our team at Poland Spring® sponsored RecycleUp, a start-up founded by graduate students at Columbia University to help increase recycling rates on college campuses.

To learn more about these initiatives and others, please visit https://www.nestle-watersna.com

About Nestlé Waters North America
Nestlé Waters North America provides people with an unrivaled portfolio of bottled waters for healthy hydration. Brands such as Poland Spring®, Nestlé® Pure Life®, Perrier® and San Pellegrino® have driven Nestlé Waters North America to be the third largest non-alcoholic beverage company by volume in the U.S. Nestlé Waters North America also owns and operates ReadyRefresh SM by Nestlé®, the largest home and office water delivery service by volume in the U.S. Based in Stamford, Connecticut with some 8,500 associates, Nestlé Waters is committed to reducing its environmental footprint across its operations. As a natural resource company, Nestlé Waters sustainably manages our 47 spring sources and maintains nearly 14,000 acres of natural watershed area. The company is also committed to creating shared value and being a good neighbor in the 140 communities where it operates in the U.S.  

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