Displaying items by tag: Nestlé

Dominican Republic: Cemex Dominicana has announced the signing of a new sustainability agreement with food producer Nestlé Dominicana. Under the agreement, Cemex Dominicana will co-process Nestlé Dominicana's non-recyclable high-calorific solid industrial waste as alternative fuel (AF) in its cement plant.

Cemex's Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Haiti regional director José Antonio Cabrera said "This agreement with Nestlé allows us to continue promoting our Future in Action strategy by operating our cement plant with AF." He concluded "We are committed to becoming a net-zero CO₂ company."

Switzerland: Holcim has appointed Steffen Kindler to the role of chief financial officer (CFO), effective from 1 May 2023. Kindler joins the cement producer from Nestlé Deutschland, where he is currently CFO, having held various key business roles in Europe and North America throughout his 25-year career at Nestlé. These included roles of global responsibility for key corporate functions such as investor relations and mergers and acquisitions. Kindler holds a diploma in business administration and computer science from the University of Mannheim and attended Nestlé's leadership programme at London Business School.

Holcim CEO Jan Jenisch said “I am excited to welcome Steffen Kindler to the team. With his vast financial expertise and geographic experience, I am confident he will fit in well with Holcim’s performance-driven culture. Steffen is an ideal partner to contribute to our continued success as we become the global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions, with a focus on superior value creation for all our stakeholders.”

Current CFO Géraldine Picaud will oversee the completion of the group’s full-year 2022 results and conduct a thorough handover, before continuing her career outside of the company.

Jenisch said “I personally thank Géraldine for her commitment and contributions to Holcim over the past five years. The solid foundations you see today – especially Holcim’s strong balance sheet, solid credit ratings and integration of sustainable finance – are all testimony to her leadership. I wish her much continued success in her future endeavors."

Philippines: Republic Cement and Nestlé Philippines have signed an agreement to co-process Nestlé’s post-consumer plastic waste in Republic Cement’s cement kilns. The deal was signed by Nestlé Philippines’ Chairman and CEO Kais Marzouki, its Corporate Affairs Head Attorney Ernesto Mascenon and Republic Cement’s Renato Sunico and Nabil Francis, CEO of Republic Cement Services. In April 2018, Nestlé globally announced a commitment that 100% of its packaging will be recyclable or reusable by 2025. The company's vision is that none of its waste ends up in landfill or as litter.

“Nestlé is aiming for plastic neutrality, essentially recovering plastics equal to what we produce,” said Kais Marzouki. “Aside from our current collection and recycling initiatives, we believe this effort will help us gather and co-process bigger volumes of post-consumer waste. We target to divert more post-consumer waste from landfills and the ocean. This partnership will contribute positively in helping clean up the Philippines.”

“We are happy to partner with Nestlé Philippines and to help address the pollution from residual plastics and sachets,” said Nabil Francis. “This is a win-win situation for us and the environment. Together, we can build a greener, stronger republic.”

India: The Supreme Court has approved Nestlé India and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to destroy 550t of recalled stocks of Maggi noodles, which had passed their shelf life, in the kilns of cement plants. Queries on the disposal of the noodles had been raised by FSSAI. Previously, Nestlé India recalled stocks of Maggi noodles and destroyed around 38,000t of the product in 2015. Ambuja Cement was reportedly paid at the time to use the noodles as an alternative fuel.

India: In an update to news on 16 June 2015, which stated that US$49.8m or 27,420t of Nestlé's Maggi noodles has been recalled in India and are now being used as an alternative fuel at five Indian cement plants, local media has reported that Nestlé has paid Ambuja Cements US$3.14m for the service.

This week brought the news that, following testing by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), some 27,402t or US$49.8m of Nestlé's Maggi noodles had to be recalled from the market due to allegedly high levels of lead. But what do you do with 27,402t of noodles deemed unsafe for human consumption?

The solution was incineration. Five cement plants will take 40 days, which started on 9 June 2015, to consume all of the noodles as an alternative fuel. "This was the most environment-friendly solution to destroy the recalled noodles," said Luca Fichera, executive vice president of Nestlé's supply chain in India.

India's fuel supply is notoriously unreliable. Coal is the dominant fuel used for cement and power production in India, however, supplies have been inconstant in terms of both quality and quantity for some time now. To shore up the coal supply, the government cancelled, reallocated and auctioned 214 of the 218 coal blocks in India, starting in September 2014. According to local media, Coal India, which still operates most of the blocks, is now expected to increase its coal production capacity by as much as 60Mt in 2015, following 7% production growth in the 2014 - 2015 financial year. However, there is still a major coal shortage in the country and recent reports by India's coal ministry suggest that the new coal linkages will increase coal costs. The new coal linkage process will see sales go via an auction system instead of a static price. Coal costs for cement producers are expected to rise by as much as 25% as a result.

Given India's long-standing fuel supply problems, its cement producers may wish to learn from the use of Nestlé's Maggi noodles as alternative fuels in cement plants. Instead of viewing the coal shortage as a challenge, it might instead be considered an opportunity to increase alternative fuel use, reducing costs and moving to more environmentally-friendly cement production. In addition to the standard industrial, municipal and household waste, among others, India might look to use some of the large quantities of waste biomass that must surely be produced from its agricultural sector. Like the game, 'Hungry, hungry hippos,' India's cement plants could consume a wide variety of nearby wastes in place of coal.

India: Some US$49.8m, which equates to 27,420t, of Nestlé's Maggi noodles has been recalled in India and is now being used as an alternative fuel at five Indian cement plants. Nestlé said that the recall process is one of the largest in the history of India's food industry.

"The recall of Maggi noodles from the market is an immensely complex mammoth activity, the largest in the history of Nestlé," said Luca Fichera, executive vice president of the supply chain in India. "The trust of our consumers is extremely important for us and despite the enormity, we are focused on completing this efficiently and as fast as feasible."

The recall started on 5 June 2015. Of the total to be consumed by cement plants, some US$32.7m was recalled from the market, while US$17.1m was removed from Nestlé's factories and distribution centres.

The Indian cement plants have been consuming the noodles as alternative fuels since 9 June 2015. "This was the most environment-friendly solution to destroy the recalled noodles: To convert them into fuel," said Fichera. It will take 40 days to destroy the 27,420t of noodles at the five cement plants.

The food safety regulator ordered Nestlé to withdraw the noodles after some samples were allegedly found to contain higher-than-permissible levels of lead. This was rejected by Nestlé, which said that its own independent tests suggested otherwise. Nestlé has since moved to the Bombay High Court, challenging the order. The court has issued notice to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the regulator and other respondents and posted the matter for hearing on 30 June 2015. Nestlé has halted the production of Maggi noodles in its factories since 5 June 2015 and has withdrawn the product from the market.