Greenpeace Africa activists and volunteers delivered Thursday, a #PlasticMonster partly covered with Nestlé branded plastic packaging right back to its source: the Nestlé factory servicing Kenya and other East African. The French group is known both in Nigeria and other parts of the world as leaders in producing and using plastics to package fast moving consumer goods (FMCG).
On arrival at the corporation, the activists called on the multinational corporation to end its reliance on single-use of plastic so as to reduce the surging global pollution of seas by floating plastics.
Activists also held protests at Nestlé offices in the Philippines, Germany and other countries across the globe as part of a global day of action led by Greenpeace and allies from the Break Free From Plastic movement.
In response to the global day of action against Nestlé, Greenpeace Africa’s Plastics Campaigner Amos Wemanya noted that “Plastic waste has polluted the oceans and is affecting human health. In Africa, our drainage systems are clogged, our animals and livelihoods are threatened. Corporations’ indiscriminate and unsustainable plastic production is the cause of these problems. Last year, Nestlé produced a shocking 1.7 million tonnes of plastic packaging – nearly 300 garbage trucks worth a day – a 13% increase from the year before. It is crucial that corporates such as Nestléstop the production of single-use plastics and re-think their packaging.
“People around the world are taking action today to demand Nestlé to show true leadership and confront the throwaway culture that underpins its current business model. Leadership does not mean substituting plastic with another single-use material like paper or bioplastic, which will shift the destructive impacts of the throwaway culture to the world’s forests and agricultural lands. For the sake of our planet and human health, we need Nestlé to immediately reduce its production of single-use packaging and invest in delivery systems based on refill and reuse.”
From Manila to Rotterdam, and along the Rhine with a “plastic monster” to Nestlé’s headquarters in Switzerland, Greenpeace has been raising awareness about the plastic production crisis in towns and villages across the globe.
Business Hilights recalls that in 2018, Greenpeace Africa’s volunteers championed the #BreakFreeFromPlastic movement across Africa, conducting brand audits which found Nestlé to be one of the top 3 plastic polluters in the world! In Africa, Nestlé produces a host of products, ranging from household products to snack items and bottled water.
Currently, Greenpeace is demanding that fast-moving consumer goods companies (FMCGs) like Nestlé, Unilever, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Danone, Johnson & Johnson and Mars be transparent and active in their immediate reduction in the production of plastic packaging while investing in the alternative delivery system of refill and reuse.
To date, over 3 million people from around the world have signed a petition calling on brands to take action.
