Nestlé volunteers collect nearly 4 tonnes of trash

Marking Nestlé’s 110th year in Malaysia, 500 Nestlé employees volunteered in the Company’s annual nationwide beach and ocean clean-up initiative.

This year, in addition to collecting almost 4 tonnes of waste across six beach locations, Nestlé also carried out underwater clean-up activities in Pulau Tioman, Pahang, and Pulau Mabul, Sabah. Commemorating Nestlé’s 110th year in Malaysia, the team in Pulau Mabul also planted 110 corals under expert supervision.

Further strengthening the Company’s commitment to building public-private partnerships to accelerate the transition to a greener future, this year’s initiative benefitted from the participation of over 70 volunteers from the Ministry of Environment and Water (KASA).

The locations this year comprised Pantai Cunang and Pantai Sg. Kajang, Selangor; Pantai Saujana, Negeri Sembilan; Pantai Teluk Bahang, Penang; Pantai Batu Buruk, Terengganu and Teluk Likas, Sabah. Alongside this, underwater clean-up and reef conservation activities also took place in Pulau Tioman and Pulau Mabul.

Following trash collection, all waste was separated according to the types of recyclables, including plastics, and sent for washing and recycling, giving these materials a second life and diverting them away from oceans. Meanwhile, non-recyclable materials were sent to a waste-to-energy plant via Nestlé’s recycling partner, KPT Recycle Sdn Bhd.

Nestlé Malaysia’s beach-clean-up activity kicked off in 2019 as an employee volunteer initiative under the company’s Nestlé Cares umbrella. To date, over 12 tonnes of waste have been recovered through the annual beach and ocean clean-up, reflecting the Company’s vision to ensure that none of the plastics or packaging materials it uses ends up in oceans.

Nestlé Malaysia continues to achieve significant progress in its fight against plastic waste, as the first Food & Beverage (F&B) company worldwide to replace 100% of its plastic straws with sustainably sourced paper straws across all its UHT products and the first F&B company in ASEAN to use 100% recycled resin (rPET) in its range of bottled drinks.

Nestlé Malaysia continues to promote environmental awareness through its Door-to-Door (D2D) Collection and Recycling Programme, reaching over 90,000 households in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur in collaboration with KPT Recycle Sdn Bhd and the municipalities.

Another programme, CARETON, in partnership with Tetra Pak (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, will collect over 50 million UHT packs this year to separate, recycle, and reuse the various packaging material components. In total, the Company’s efforts enable the collection, separation and recycling of over 5,000 tonnes of waste in 2022.

Juan Aranols, Chief Executive Officer, Nestlé (Malaysia) Berhad, said, “Protecting our planet requires collective action, and we encourage all Malaysians to join us in this journey.

Our action to reduce the use of plastics and promote collection, separation and recycling is an important part of our pledge to act on climate change and accelerate our journey towards net zero emissions and plastic neutrality. We have already achieved significant progress, and we will double down further on all these programmes.”

Indeed, Nestlé Malaysia is also advancing its ambitious reforestation programme, Project RELeaf, with a target to plant three million trees across selected locations in Malaysia. Following a slowdown due to COVID-19 lockdowns, Project RELeaf is now well on track to achieve its target by 2024.

Alongside this, to reduce its carbon footprint, in January 2022, Nestlé Malaysia successfully transitioned to 100% renewable energy across its operations nationwide and continues to promote regenerative agriculture practices among farmers participating in its local sourcing programmes for coffee, chilli and rice in Kedah, Kelantan and Selangor.

“Our beach and ocean clean-ups mean a lot to us as they allow many of our employees to be part of Nestlé’s environmental efforts and contribute to the Company’s green transition. Through this annual activity, in addition to creating great bonds within our teams, we wish to raise awareness and educate the public on the responsible disposal of plastic and other forms of waste.”

“With these initiatives in place and clear targets set for our sustainability programmes, we will continue to spearhead a brighter future for all and bring about impactful, positive change for the planet,” concluded Aranols.