Nestlé Pure Life has launched Egypt’s first water bottles made of 100% recycled plastics (rPET) in its 1.5 liters format as it continues its move towards more sustainable packaging.

The new bottles are made of high quality and food-grade recovered and reprocessed plastics known as rPET which stands for “Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate.” The innovation was first introduced and approved by the European Union as safe to use, ensuring quality and safety. Products produced by Nestlé Waters Egypt go through a rigorous 10-step quality process and bottles undergo more than one million quality tests per year.

Nestlé’s global commitment includes, investing a total of $2 billion to develop sustainable packaging solutions for food grade recycled plastic; in addition to its commitment to increase the usage of rPET in packaging materials by 50% worldwide by 2025.

The announcement came during a press conference held today which welcomed Mr. Moataz ElHout, Chairman and CEO of Nestlé Egypt, Dr. Rassem Dabbas, Business Executive Officer of Nestlé Waters Egypt, Mr. Ahmed Kamel Abdel Moneim, CEO and advisor to the Federation of Egyptian Industries, Dr. Walid Darwish, Advisor to the Minister of Trade and Industry for environmental policies, Mr. Magdy Anis, General Manager at The St. Regis Cairo and Chairman of Marriott Egypt Business Council, alongside representatives from Nestlé Waters Egypt, Bekia and the National Food Safety Authority.

Expanding The Impact

Expanding the impact and contributing to increase recycling behavior and raise public awareness, the new water bottles will include a QR code on the label which when scanned will direct to the Nestlé Pure Life website for further information about the product, as well as details of livelihood improvement and sustainability initiatives. Furthermore, vending machines will be placed at high traffic venues where consumers will dispose their used plastic bottles which will be transferred for recycling.

Commenting on the innovative launch, Business Executive Officer of Nestlé Waters Egypt, Rassem Dabbas stated,

“Nestlé has been transforming its packaging globally as part of its commitment to protect the environment, which is why we launched the rPET water bottle for the 1.5 liters in a shrink format in Egypt. We hope this move will continue to encourage a circular packaging system, where all bottles are collected and recycled, bottle to bottle.” He continued, “we encourage our colleagues and industry players to embrace the same journey to help ensure bottled water products support a sustainable future.”

Mr. Magdy Anis said,

“Marriott International has for many years valued its customers by offering them the first priority because the company’s corporate responsibility is to serve people, associates, society, and the environment. The company employs varied strategies for environmental conservation and focuses on the major elements of environmental responsibilities with the aim of conserving the environment.”

Pioneering Sustainable Packaging

The shift to rPET is another revolutionary step for Nestlé Waters Egypt, which in 2019 launched the “if it clicks, it’s safe” campaign becoming the first bottled water company to eliminate the bottle neck sleeves, removing approximately 240 metric tons of plastics. It grew into a game-changing initiative that was later adopted by major water bottle companies in the local market.

As part of its global commitments that tackle environmental and social issues, Nestlé Egypt is committed to recover and recycle as much plastic as it produces which will amount to 17,000 tonnes of PET by the end of 2021 through “Dorna” initiative which support and encourage waste recycling operations and accelerate the pace of plastic collection.