Team size: 13

What significant projects or deals has the legal team worked on in the past year?  Can you provide examples of successful outcomes or major accomplishments?  

Flexible packaging comprises 25% of UK consumer packaging but only 8% is collected for recycling, resulting in high waste and significant public pressure to address. Against this backdrop packaging compliance costs are set to rise significantly. Supporting investment to build capacity in recycling infrastructure for hard to recycle flexible’s is a core element in Nestle meeting our 2025 commitments. 

To help solve for this challenge the Nestle legal team negotiated a £7m loan to Impact Recycling to set up a commercial scale flexible plastic recycling plant to process 25,000 tons of plastic annually, using innovative BOSS technology to sort and process mixed consumer waste to replace virgin material in non- food grade plastic products. Packaging such as Nestle’s KitKat wrappers, Purina pet food pouches, Rowntree confectionery sharing bags and Nestlé cereal bags, will be recycled using this process. Once operational, the plant will double the amount of plastic film collected for recycling in the UK and by repayment of the loan with the equivalent of £10m Packaging Recovery Notes (PRN’s) reduce packaging compliance costs by 30%. 

Also, having an office environment that creates opportunities for connection and collaboration in person is an important part of Nestle’s culture and how we do business. Hybrid working requires flexibility around how, when and where we work. Our workplace needs to facilitate innovative and creative ways of working, enabled through technology and a modern flexible space.  

With this in mind, the legal team oversaw all the legal work associated with an office move that saw over 1000 employees based at Nestle’s office near Gatwick Airport, transferring to a new site in Crawley as well establishing a London hub office in Westminster, London.  

Apart from legal matters, has the team worked on other company initiatives?  

Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) issues are becoming ever more important to business. However, one of the challenges facing companies is to ensure that directors have good governance to address the multitude of diverse matters that fall under the umbrella heading of ESG.  

The legal team has established and leads the running of a cross functional ESG Council  in the UK & I Market that meets on a quarterly basis.  The Council carries out several tasks including providing guidance and oversight on the development and implementation of the Nestle Market’s ESG strategy, goals, and initiatives. We also review and continuously assess the market’s ESG performance, including key metrics, targets, and progress towards achieving ESG goals. Identifying and prioritizing ESG risks and opportunities specific to the market and categories, and recommending appropriate mitigation strategies is also a key initiative we are involved with.