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Nestlé partners with Groupe REcyclar to set up a plastics waste recovery and recycling programme in Mauritius

The partnership seeks to promote and sensitise communities about plastic recycling.
This partnership forms part of RE, Nestlé ESAR sustainability programme aimed at driving climate action across East and Southern Africa

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Nestlé Mauritius is proud to announce its partnership with Groupe REcyclar, a specialist recycling organisation that collects, recycles and repurposes plastic waste into new and useful finished products. This partnership was announced on 17 April 2023 during a signing ceremony between the two businesses in Arsenal, Mauritius. The engagement is part of Nestlé’s RE sustainability initiative which seeks to set up a plastics waste recovery and recycling programme in 27 primary schools on the island.

Plastic waste is one of the biggest sustainability issues the world is facing today. Tackling it requires a collective approach that can only be successful through strategic partnerships. Nestlé’s vision for a world in which none of its packaging, including plastics, ends up in landfill or as litter comes to life through RE in east and southern Africa. RE consolidates the business’ sustainability activities under three pillars, Rethink, Reduce and Repurpose, and these principles are applied across many touchpoints on the food production value chain, evolving the manufacturing value chain.

The impact of the adoption of RE has been improved packaging, less packaging, and better production systems. The initiative continues to pilot innovative interventions such as reuse and refill systems, expand the use of paper packaging, and help create well-functioning collection, sorting and recycling schemes across east and southern Africa.

"We are proud to be taking a step towards a more sustainable future as we launch this plastics waste recovery and recycling programme in partnership with Groupe REcyclar. As Nestlé, we are committed to finding improved solutions to rethink, reduce, and repurpose plastic waste. This partnership will help us achieve our goal towards a waste-free future”, said Gordon Perrins, Nestlé's Business Development Manager for Mauritius, and Seychelles.

Through this partnership, Groupe REcyclar will collect plastic waste from the 27 primary schools

across Mauritius for recycling. Once the plastic waste is collected, it will be sorted, weighed and thereafter, processed to produce other plastic products through their plasturgist partner in Madagascar.

"With the growing and pressing issue of global plastic pollution as a whole that's encroaching our lands and oceans, Groupe REcyclar takes a stand for its little island by collecting, recycling and re-converting plastic waste into new & useful finished products, with a 100% guarantee of waste traceability. What we mean by traceability is that we can track what happened to the plastic waste collected in figures and into which products they have been transformed into. Not only do we give second life to plastic waste, but it’s also a continued process that goes up to 7-10 times, making plastic waste into something new each time thanks to our molecular chain that enables us to recycle & retransform it continuously” Stated Shama Nandji, CEO & Founder of Groupe REcyclar.

“Leveraging on Groupe REcyclar’s expertise, the plastics waste recovery and recycling programme in the schools, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Environment, we have brought end-to-end traceability of waste to the sustainability conversation. As the world’s largest food and beverage company, Nestlé is committed to taking a leadership role in tackling the plastic waste challenge.  The group expects 95% of their packaging to be designed for recycling by 2025, with the ambition of getting to 100% recyclable of reusable packaging”, concluded Perrins.

The project in Mauritius forms part of a range of activities that Nestlé have been doing in the east and southern Africa region, projects that bring together government, the private sector, and local communities. These include a partnership with Chilanga Cement in Zambia, the National Environment Management Agency and the Department of Education in Kenya, and RE-Imagine Tomorrow, a waste management value chain revamp in partnership with a tech startup and local waste reclaimers in South Africa. At the heart of RE and these many projects, are three simple principles that will be key in our shift from linear to circular economies, which are:  Rethink, Reducing, and Repurpose.

For more information visit, www.nestle-esar.com. Follows us on Facebook and Twitter @nestleesar

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Contact:

Nestlé East and Southern Africa
Name: Brinda Chiniah
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +230 5 927 4553

Issued by Odysseus PR
Media Contact: Naresh Roodur
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +230 5 796 6037

About Nestlé  
Nestlé is the world’s largest food and beverage company. It is present in 187 countries around the world, and its 291,000 employees are committed to Nestlé’s purpose of unlocking the power of food to enhance quality for everyone, today and for generations to come. Nestlé offers a wide portfolio of products and services for people and their pets throughout their lives. Its more than 2,000 brands range from global icons like Nescafé or Nespresso to local favourites like Ricoffy. Company performance is driven by its Nutrition, Health, and Wellness strategy. Nestlé is based in the Swiss town of Vevey where it was founded more than 150 years ago.