Egyptian Ministry of Environment, Nestlé Egypt and 6 FMCGs reshape the understanding of plastic waste recollection & recycling through a Post-Consumer Plastic Waste Pact Pact

As part of its commitment towards the environment, Nestlé Egypt signed a Post-Consumer Plastic Waste Pact under the auspices of the Ministry of the Environment. This pact comes as a step closer towards Nestlé’s “one tonne in, one tonne out” strategy that ensures that the nutrition company is collecting and recycling as much plastic waste as it generates. Expanding the environmental and social impact of this pact, major FMCGs have contributed to support the cause ensuring sustainable use of resources for future generations. Companies that signed the pact include: Pepsico Egypt, Proctor and Gamble, Coca-Cola Egypt, Unilever Egypt and Al Ahram Beverages.  

In 2019 Nestlé launched the trial phase of its initiative DORNA, which aims to incentivize waste collectors for boosting their collection of plastic waste. Upon reaching a specific threshold, value chain actors would receive a monetary incentive. For the establishment and sustainability of this initiative, Nestlé Egypt worked closely with CID Consulting to set a framework for operations and a tech partner, PayMob to establish a user-friendly digital system to track the amount of plastics collected. Furthermore, individuals have been enrolled to oversee the operations of the system leading to sufficient flow.

After 1.5 years of its establishment, with over 10,000 tonnes of plastics retrieved, 1,200 value chain actors enrolled in the system, 20% of which are women, and over EGP 7.6 million paid as incentives to the informal waste collection sector, Nestlé Egypt and the Ministry of Environment called for contribution of the private sector to expand the initiative.

During the signing ceremony, H.E. Minister of the Environment, Dr. Yasmine Fouad stated, “The Post-Consumer Plastic Waste Pact brings together all members of the plastic value chain including the Egyptian government, NGOs and the private sector to combat the negative impact of plastic waste and establishing a circular economy. Through this coalition, plastic waste will not end up as litter, rather, will be transformed into valuable resources through environmentally friendly means. This will include its transformation into fertilizers or new plastic products.”

From his part, Moataz El Hout CEO of Nestlé Egypt stated, “Safeguarding the environment and its resources is one of the goals of sustainable development and our role towards future generations. At Nestlé we have taken responsibility for friendly use of resources and for this, we launched DORNA. Additionally, Nestlé made a commitment that by 2025 100% of our packaging material will be recyclable or reusable.” He continued, “Because we believe in the importance of collective work towards achieving goals, we called for a union with major FMCGs in Egypt to be part of this initiative, not only to ensure no plastic waste ends up as waste, but also to socially support value chain actors who use the monetary incentive to provide better health and education for their families.”