Mexican plant achieves full circularity of food grade plastic packaging
Nestlé Mexico, Greenback and Enval are to install the first plant in Mexico to achieve full circularity of food grade plastic packaging.
The plant will employ a microwave-induced pyrolysis technology developed by Enval, a UK chemical recycling company, to transform valueless plastic packaging into pyrolysis oil that can be used in the petrochemical industry to manufacture new products with post-consumer recycled content.
Enval's technology will allow the recycling of aluminium from ultra-effective but hitherto impossible-to-recycle packaging.
The project will enable circularity of up to 5,500t of flexible plastic packaging in the first year, with expected sustained growth in both volume and installed capacity in the country.
In addition, Nestlé will be investign in the adaption to the Mexican waste ecosystem and market of Greenback's eco2Veritas Circularity Platform, which provides complete traceability of the neutralisation and recycling process.
'Making safe recycled plastics for food packaging is a huge challenge for our industry. Therefore, in addition to minimising the use of plastics and collecting waste, we want to close the loop and make more plastics infinitely recyclable,' says Fausto Costa, CEO at Nestlé Mexico.
The Swiss comapny's alliance with the advanced recycling technology companies (focused on certified circular solutions for packaging waste) is part of the objective of reducing its plastic footprint in the environment and continuing the path towards the goal of acheiving a waste-free future.
In April 2021, Nestlé Mexico became the first company in the country to neutralise all the equivalent plastic from its post-consumer waste, on a voluntary basis.
