Nestlé, a company associated with CEBDS, has created a material capable of replacing plastic packaging. It is a recycled paper with a polymer coating that makes it waterproof and strong enough to pass through the production line, transport and storage for nine months. Unlike plastic packaging, the new recycled material degrades after six months in the ocean, according to the company.
The company says it does not intend to patent the innovation, which will allow other companies to adopt the material from April 2020. For Erwin Reisner, head of the Circular Economy Center to Eliminate Plastic Waste at the University of Cambridge, in the United Kingdom, the Nestlé's new technology is an "important step". “This will put pressure on other manufacturers,” he tells the Financial Times. In addition to alternatives, he nevertheless stressed that it is necessary to make plastic reusable and recyclable.
