Nestlé Breaks Down Its Path To 2030 For Virgin Plastic Reduction

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Nestlé’s packaging strategy sets a 2030 goal of reducing virgin plastic use by 12% to 17% from its 2018 baseline. The company expects recycled content to account for most of the planned reduction, while cutting plastic packaging and expanding reuse and refill play smaller roles. Its strategy describes reuse and refill models as largely at the pilot stage.

Nestlé has set out a plan to cut virgin plastic use by 12% to 17% by 2030, compared with 2018, in a packaging sustainability strategy published this month. The global food and beverage company expects recycled plastic to deliver more than half of the planned reduction, with lower overall plastic use and reuse or refill systems making up the rest.

The company divides the planned improvement into three routes. It expects 50% to 60% to come from increasing recycled plastic in packaging, 30% to 40% from reducing or eliminating plastic, and 10% to 15% from alternative materials or reuse and refill solutions. These are portions of the planned improvement, not separate targets for the amount of packaging changed.

In 2025, Nestlé packaging contained about 21% recycled plastic. The company says it is researching the food safety of recycled plastics to expand use of recycled polyethylene terephthalate, or PET. It did not provide a target in the source material for the recycled content share by 2030.

Nestlé reported that total plastic packaging use fell to 0.86 million metric tons in 2025, down from 1.7 million metric tons in 2018. Plastic represented about a quarter of its packaging portfolio by weight in 2025. The company also said the 2030 target accounts for its planned sale of a stake in its water business for approximately $3.4 billion.

How Nestlé Plans to Cut Virgin Plastic

The strategy shifts the emphasis from whether packaging can be recycled, composted or reused to how much new, or virgin, plastic Nestlé uses. The company said it had previously pursued a goal of making all its packaging recyclable, compostable or reusable and reached about 90% of its portfolio on that measure. The new target focuses on reducing virgin plastic against a stated historical baseline.

The scale matters because plastic still made up roughly one quarter of Nestlé’s packaging by weight in 2025. Its reported decline in total plastic packaging from 2018 provides a measure of progress, but the company’s 2030 target is specifically about virgin plastic use. The figures should not be treated as interchangeable: the source does not give a 2030 target for total plastic packaging tonnage.

The strategy also places most of the expected reduction on recycled content. That makes progress dependent in part on the availability and suitability of recycled material for food packaging. Nestlé’s stated research into food safety points to one area it says it must address to widen the use of recycled PET.

From Packaging Goals to Virgin Plastic

Before 2025, Nestlé emphasized packaging that could be recycled, composted or reused. According to the company, it ultimately achieved that status for about 90% of its packaging portfolio. Its new strategy refines the focus toward reducing virgin plastic by a set percentage from a 2018 baseline.

The company cited paper-based packaging as one way to replace plastic in some uses. Nestlé recently joined five other founding members of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s PaperFlex Consortium, which aims to accelerate research and development of flexible paper packaging. The strategy points to Nescafé paper soft packs in Europe as an example of replacing plastic laminates with paper.

Reuse remains a small part of the current portfolio. Nestlé reported that 0.51% of its packaging was reusable in 2025. Its strategy identifies at-home refill products as an opportunity but characterizes reuse and refill models as largely still at the pilot stage.

Open Questions on Delivery and Measurement

The source material does not specify the exact tonnage of virgin plastic Nestlé expects to use in 2030, nor does it give interim milestones for the 12% to 17% reduction. It also does not set out how the company will report progress against each of the three routes or how the planned water business stake sale affects the baseline calculation in detail.

It remains unclear how quickly recycled plastics suitable for food packaging can be secured at the volumes the strategy requires. Nestlé says it is researching food safety for expanded recycled PET use, but the source does not provide findings, a timeline for that research or a volume goal for recycled content. The strategy likewise gives no timetable for taking refill pilots to broader commercial use.

Milestones Toward the 2030 Target

The next measure of progress will be Nestlé’s reporting on plastic use and recycled content after the 2025 figures cited in the strategy. Readers will need those updates to see whether the company is on a path toward its 2030 reduction range and how much progress comes from each approach.

Further developments may include results from the company’s recycled-plastic food-safety research, the rollout of paper-based packaging work through the PaperFlex Consortium, and decisions on whether at-home refill pilots can expand. The source material does not announce specific dates for those milestones.

Key Questions

What is Nestlé’s virgin plastic target?

Nestlé plans to reduce virgin plastic use by 12% to 17% by 2030, compared with 2018. The company says the target takes into account its planned sale of a stake in its water business.

How does Nestlé expect to reach the target?

The company expects 50% to 60% of the planned improvement to come from more recycled plastic, 30% to 40% from reducing or eliminating plastic, and 10% to 15% from alternative materials or reuse and refill solutions.

How much recycled content was in Nestlé’s plastic packaging in 2025?

Nestlé reported that its plastic packaging contained about 21% recycled content in 2025. The strategy does not state a 2030 recycled-content target in the source material.

How much of Nestlé’s packaging was reusable in 2025?

The company reported that 0.51% of its packaging was reusable in 2025. Its strategy describes reuse and refill models as largely at the pilot stage.

What remains unknown about the plan?

The strategy details provided do not give interim reduction milestones, a 2030 virgin-plastic tonnage figure or a timeline for scaling refill pilots. Nestlé also has not provided, in the source material, the findings or schedule for its food-safety research on recycled plastics.

Source: rss