Nestlé announced today that it is joining forces with other industry partners to build a fully recyclable, compostable fiber cup as part of the NextGen Consortium and Cup Challenge.
This announcement follows a series of initiatives and concrete steps taken by Nestlé to accelerate action to tackle plastic waste, in line with its commitment to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.
The NextGen Consortium is a multi-year, multi-industry global consortium that aims to advance the design, commercialization and recovery of food packaging alternatives. The NextGen Cup Challenge is the first initiative of the Consortium.
It calls on innovators, start-ups, suppliers and industry experts to join a global challenge to develop the next generation of recyclable, compostable, hot and cold, to-go, fiber cups.
The Challenge launched in October 2018 and winners will be announced this month, with up to six winners invited to enter an accelerator program to help scale up and commercialize their solutions. Winners will receive a portion of up to USD 1 million in funding to help advance their idea through the supply chain and into consumers’ hands.
Stefan Palzer, Nestlé Chief Technology Officer said, “Solving the issue of plastic waste requires collaboration among many different stakeholders. We are excited to join the NextGen Consortium and Cup Challenge as it brings together start-ups, industry partners and suppliers to find an industry wide, global packaging solution for sustainable to-go cups.”
Both the Consortium and Challenge are managed by Closed Loop Partners, with Starbucks and McDonald’s as Founding Partners, The World Wildlife Fund as an Advisory Partner, The Coca-Cola Company and Yum! Brands as Supporting Partners. Nestlé has also joined as a Supporting Partner.
Bridget Croke, Vice President of External Affairs at Closed Loop Partners said, “We’re thrilled that Nestlé has joined the NextGen Consortium and Cup Challenge. This demonstrates their deep commitment to reducing plastic waste and bringing their expertise to the table to help advance the discovery of global, sustainable solutions.”