Nestlé UK is to become the first major company to use biodegradable security seals on its transport fleet, as part of an attempt to reduce its dependence on single-use plastics.
The multinational’s UK arm currently uses over 200,000 security seals a year. The seals are not easily recyclable and as such have previously gone to landfill after use.
However, the new security seals are designed to break down biologically after use, while still having the strength when in use to prevent breaches of Nestlé lorries and let employees know if any shipments have been tampered with.
The announcement yesterday comes after an exercise to explore how the company could curb the use of single use plastics across its operations.
Richard Hastings, head of logistics at Nestlé UK & Ireland, said “everybody at Nestlé is increasingly conscious of how we use plastic and these seals, which are simply thrown away once used, were an obvious and very visible single use of plastic in our area”.
Nestlé is to now partner with security seal manufacturer Mega Fortris Group to source the new biodegradable seals.
Keith Edgar, managing director at Mega Fortris UK, said: “Mega Fortris is aware of the impact plastic waste is having on our everyday lives, and is continually working on sustainability to the environment and are very pleased that Nestlé also recognise the importance of this.”
The move follows a pledge last year from Nestlé to make all its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025. Under the new commitment, Nestlé announced a raft of new goals, including targets to eliminate non-recyclable plastics, encourage the use of plastics with better recycling rates, and eliminate or change complex combinations of packaging materials.
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Published on businessgreen.com