Egypt’s first water bottles made of 100% rPET
Nestlé Pure Life has launched Egypt’s first water bottles made of 100% recycled plastics (rPET) in a 1.5 liters format. The products which were first introduced and approved by the European Union as safe to use, are being produced by Nestlé Waters Egypt go through a rigorous 10-step quality process, Bottles undergo more than one million quality tests per year.
Nestlé’s global commitment includes, investing a total of $2 billion to develop sustainable packaging solutions for food grade recycled plastic; in addition to its commitment to increase the usage of rPET in packaging materials by 50% worldwide by 2025.
The announcement came during a press conference held on October 25 which welcomed Mr. Moataz ElHout, Chairman and CEO of Nestlé Egypt, Dr. Rassem Dabbas, Business Executive Officer of Nestlé Waters Egypt, Mr. Ahmed Kamel Abdel Moneim, CEO and advisor to the Federation of Egyptian Industries, Dr. Walid Darwish, Advisor to the Minister of Trade and Industry for environmental policies, Mr. Magdy Anis, General Manager at The St. Regis Cairo and Chairman of Marriott Egypt Business Council, alongside representatives from Nestlé Waters Egypt, Bekia and the National Food Safety Authority.
Expanding the impact and contributing to increase recycling behavior and raise public awareness, the new water bottles will include a QR code on the label which when scanned will direct to the Nestlé Pure Life website for further information about the product, as well as details of livelihood improvement and sustainability initiatives. Furthermore, vending machines will be placed at high traffic venues where consumers will dispose of their used plastic bottles which will be transferred for recycling.
Commenting on the launch, Business Executive Officer of Nestlé Waters Egypt, Rassem Dabbas stated, “Nestlé has been transforming its packaging globally as part of its commitment to protect the environment, which is why we launched the rPET water bottle for the 1.5 liters in a shrink format in Egypt. We hope this move will continue to encourage a circular packaging system, where all bottles are collected and recycled, bottle to bottle.” He continued, “we encourage our colleagues and industry players to embrace the same journey to help ensure bottled water products support a sustainable future.”
As part of its global commitments that tackle environmental and social issues, Nestlé Egypt is committed to recover and recycle as much plastic as it produces which will amount to 17,000 tonnes of PET by the end of 2021 through “Dorna” initiative which support and encourage waste recycling operations and accelerate the pace of plastic collection.
