Nestlé Costa Rica achieves neutrality for 100% of its post-consumer plastic waste

Geocycle's PlaNet solutions offer a global transparent platform to address the growing plastic waste challenge. It provides plastic waste generators the opportunity to invest in innovative solutions to tackle plastic pollution and marine littering in high impact areas.  Geocycle collects and sorts plastic waste on behalf of PlaNet partners like Nestle and then channels the recyclable materials towards the recycling industry.

 

At the start of 2019, Nestlé globally articulated its broader vision for a waste-free future. It stated that none of its packaging, including plastics, will end up in landfills and oceans, or as litter. This tremendous challenge demanded to find innovative ways to efficiently recover and valorize post-consumer packaging waste, especially in countries where traditional recycling channels are scarce.

 

Geocycle Costa Rica ably supported this drive to become Nestlé’s strategic partner in the country. With its globally proven processes, the highest compliance standards and vast expertise in plastic waste management, Geocycle developed the most efficient and compliant solution in Latin America to recover post-consumer plastic waste, by installing the first industrial-scale sorting station in the country to divert packaging waste from the biggest landfill in Costa Rica.

By the end of 2020, less than two years after their global commitment, Nestlé Costa Rica became the company's first market in America, and the second in the world, to achieve 100% plastic neutrality for its post-consumer plastic waste. An even bigger milestone was reached , when it became the first company in the world to receive the Plastic Neutral certification by SGS, based on a Life Cycle Analysis, to guarantee that the company is valorizing the equivalent of 100% of the plastic packaging that they put in the market. 

This project annually diverts tens of thousands of tons of municipal waste from the landfill allowing full traceability and leading to certification for recovery and valorization of the post-consumer plastic waste. Oscar Rivas, Head of Business Development for Geocycle in Latin America, mentions that “Nestlé Costa Rica's achievement is a milestone in the region, and will surely motivate other companies to follow their footsteps to actively contribute to a sustainable management of their post-consumer packaging waste”. 

The Geocycle Latin America team is fast scaling up our plastic neutrality solutions and are working to replicate this collaboration in the region.