In what the company is calling an Australian-first, KitKat has increased its use of recycled plastic in the wrappers of select products to 90 per cent, which it says is the highest proportion used in soft plastic by any major Australian food brand.
According to brand owner Nestle, The major step in the brand’s sustainability journey cuts 1,200,000sqm of virgin plastic each year, enough to cover approximately 1000 x 50m swimming pools. The 90 per cent recycled plastic is allocated using the ISCC mass balance approach.
“KitKat lovers tell us they want breaks for good – and that packaging matters to them,” said Andrew Lawrey, Nestle’s general manager for confectionery.
“Their appetite for change is accelerating, and know they are looking for better packaging, including packaging made with more recycled material.
“It’s critical that our packaging keeps KitKat safe and fresh, and delivers that delicious snap consumers love.
“While recycled plastic suitable for soft plastic food wrappers continues to be scarce, we will keep working closely with our suppliers to transition as quickly as possible.”
The new wrappers will be used on the classic KitKat and KitKat Gold 4-finger bars, KitKat Aero Mint bars, and classic KitKat blocks.
The update builds on KitKat’s move last year to become Australia’s first food wrapped in soft plastic made with 30 per cent recycled plastic using a mass approach – and since then 40 million KitKat 4-finger bars have been wrapped with 30 per cent recycled plastic.
According to Margaret Stuart, Nestle Oceania’s director of corporate affairs, the company is on a mission to cut its virgin plastics used by a third by 2025.
“We hope this wrapper does more than just reduce virgin plastic use, and we hope it’s a reminder of the circular potential for soft plastics,” she said.
“We all know the disappointment of not being able to recycle our soft plastics right now, but we’ve designed our wrappers so that where collection is available, they can be recycled.
“We’re continuing to work with industry and the value chain to see a future where Australian used plastic can be collected and turned into soft plastic food packaging.”
The newly packaged KitKat products are available nationwide now.
Nestle is planning to introduce food grade soft plastic wrappers made with recycled plastic to further product ranges as global availability increases.
