Nestlé Malaysia today announced a breakthrough in the War on Plastic Waste, with a packaging innovation for its MILO UHT 125ml drink packs which will avoid 40 million plastic straws per year! The new packs, which will be rolled out throughout the fourth quarter of 2019 and will make Nestlé the first Food and Beverage Company in Malaysia to introduce paper straws for packaged drinks.
Juan Aranols, Chief Executive Officer, Nestlé (Malaysia) Berhad said, “Reducing plastic waste and mitigating climate change effects through advanced technology and product design, as well as consumer education, are a priority for us. This is the latest of our contributions to Nestlé’s pledge to make our packaging 100% recyclable or reusable by 2025. Our teams have worked very hard to successfully roll out a solution that is not only effective and scalable, but most importantly, one that meets Nestlé’s stringent product quality standards for the safety of consumers. This is all part of our commitment to continue searching aggressively for solutions in our on-going War on Plastic Waste.”
“It has not been simple. We had to ensure that the alternative straws are made from high quality material that fits packaging specifications, and remain sturdy when used, without posing any safety risks. We also had to identify suppliers who were capable of meeting our rigorous standards at the quantities required for high volume production. Following these efforts, we are truly pleased to be able to share this important innovation with our consumers,” said Ms Ng Su Yen, Business Executive Officer, Ready to Drink Business Unit, Nestlé (Malaysia) Berhad.
Following this pilot initiative, Nestlé Malaysia plans to roll out this packaging solution to its other MILO UHT variants in phases progressively with the ultimate objective of eliminating over 200 million plastic straws a year.
This is one of the many initiatives Nestlé Malaysia has in place in their War on Plastic Waste. The Group is continuously developing environmentally-friendly solutions. As a result of this, two thirds of Nestlé Malaysia’s total plastic packaging is currently designed for recycling.
Nestlé also continues to co-develop and test new environmentally friendly packaging materials and systems together with our development centres, suppliers, research institutions and start-ups.
In addition to innovating its packaging to be fully recyclable, Nestlé wants to inspire behaviour change to promote a waste-free future. Earlier this year, the Group eliminated all single-use plastic at Nestlé work sites and educated employees on the importance of recycling. The Group also held a nationwide beach clean-up, collecting over 5.6 tonnes of waste in nine locations across Malaysia, with over 600 Nestle employees participating.
So how many trees will you need to cut to have million of paper straws to serve your beverages. You think you solved the plastic problem, well you created another and it effects our environment, it involves wild life. Many animals are going extinct, where are they going to live when you take their habitat away from them. Who will defend the animals and give them food and a home. Yes nobody thought of this because it’s all about making more money in business. What we need is to educate humans to be more responsible in handle waste. Many environmental disasters are caused by humans and you can read it in the news. So educate humans not think you solved a problem when ur actually creating another. Many a drink in a box where I can open and drink straight away like a can like how we have our lilk boxes now maybe place the spout at the side instead of on top of the carton then you may not need straws at all be it plastic or paper. Forget about recycling but think how you can dissolve waste naturally. Recycling plants is another money making business in billions. This is my opinion which don’t matter because I am a minority in the majority whose opinion don’t matter.
I hope the paper straw itself isn’t wrapped in plastic, haha.