In its commitment to invest up to CHF 2 billion to lead the shift from virgin plastics to food-grade recycled plastics and to accelerate the development of innovative sustainable packaging solutions, Nestlé has improved the recyclability of its Henniez bottles.

In a statement, the company said that its Swiss mineral water brand Henniez’s bottles are now made of 75 per cent recycled PET plastic (rPET).

Henniez was previously using 30 per cent Swiss recycled PET since 2013, but has the clear ambition to move to 100 per cent locally recycled PET.

According to Nestlé, the move will close the PET circular loop, as discarded PET bottles will be made into new Henniez recycled plastic bottles multiple times, without tapping into new oil resources.

It added that the investment, along with the ongoing efforts to make packaging recyclable or reusable, will help Nestlé to use one third less virgin plastics by 2025.

“With 75 per cent recycled plastic in all our Henniez plastic bottles, we are clearly committed to this highly efficient circular economy,” Nestlé Waters Switzerland general manager Alessandro Rigoni said.

“We are proud of our local recycling system PET Recycling Schweiz (PRS), one of the best in the world.”

PRS has been in place for 30 years in Switzerland and boasts a PET recycling rate of 82 per cent, without resorting to a bottle deposit scheme.

Last year, several mineral water brands from Nestlé also announced similar moves: Belgian brand Valvert switched its whole plastic bottles portfolio to 100 per cent rPET, Vittel was the first French brand to launch a bottle entirely made of recycled PET, and British brand Buxton announced 100 per cent rPET for its complete range by end of 2021.