Nestle has announced the launch of a first-of-its-kind, single-material pouch for its baby food products designed for the future of recycling.

In the US, the new pouch will be available exclusively on TheGerberStore.com for Gerber’s Organic Banana Mango Puree beginning in May 2020. It will be 100% recyclable through Gerber’s national recycling program with TerraCycle. In Finland, the pouch will be available for Piltti’s Apple Pear Blueberry Raspberry widely sold in supermarkets.

Thierry Philardeau, head of the Nutrition Strategic Business Unit, Nestle, said, “We are proud to have found a solution for the recyclability of baby food pouches. We began in the US and Finland for two product variants, and we aim to gradually extend the use of single-material pouch to our baby food pouches range globally.”

This is in line with Nestle’s commitment to making 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.

The newly designed-to-be-recyclable pouch is made from polypropylene (PP), a versatile form of plastic available commercially. This switch is expected to make more plastics infinitely recyclable and increase the value of the material for the recycling industry.

“This launch is an important milestone in how we execute our ambition to create a wider market for recycled plastics that are safe for food. We will continue to work with other stakeholders to ensure that the infrastructure needed to recycle matches material innovation,” added Thierry Philardeau.