KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — Nestle Malaysia will be implementing 100 percent paper straws across its entire UHT range by the end 2020 making it the first large scale food and beverage company in ASEAN to do so.
Its chief executive officer, Juan Aranols, said this initiative will eliminate over 200 million plastic straws per year, marking another breakthrough in the company’s War on Plastic Waste and this is in line with the company’s global pledge to make its packaging 100 percent recyclable or reusable by 2025.
“Plastic waste is a global threat and we are totally committed to reducing our plastic footprint. Last year, we started by introducing paper straws for our MILO UHT 125ml drink packs and for our newly launched Milo Nutri Pluz.
“We are now pleased to deliver on our commitment to expand this all across our Ready To Drink (RTD) UHT products with the transition completed by the end of 2020.
“This is all part of our commitment to design environmentally friendly packaging solutions and adopt them with a positive sense of urgency,” he said in a statement today.
Meanwhile, Nestle ready-to-drink business unit executive officer April Wong said 90 percent of Nestle Malaysia’s total packaging is already designed for recycling which the new paper straws meet very stringent quality requirements.
“We ensure that paper straws used are responsibly-sourced and are also absolutely safe for drinking. Many people are used to plastic straws and making the switch to paper straws will bring a slightly different consumer experience,” she said.
She also said Nestle Malaysia succeed collect over 95 million drink packs with enough materials to build 280 homes under the CAREton Project launched by Nestle in 2013 until the end of 2019.
“The CAREton Project by MILO UHT aims to collect 45 million used beverage cartons in 2020 including our own MILO UHT drink packs. In partnership with Tetra Pak, the collected packs are recycled into roofing tiles that are later donated to Orang Asli communities.
“Nestle Malaysia also created a “Green Gladiators” task force with over 150 participating employees that have the mission to accelerate sustainability initiatives, such as efforts against plastic waste and in support of circularity, as well as actions to reduce the carbon footprint, including the reforestation efforts in East Malaysia, under Project RiLeaf,” she said.
Sources: BERNAMA