Water again in a moment. But this time not in faraway Africa but in Europe. Let's take a look at the small town of Vittel. Nestlé pumps two million litres of water there every day for free, in order to package it in plastic bottles and plastic containers.1https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/unternehmen/nestle-kritik-der-schlechte-ruf-des-konzerns-hat-seine-gruende-16228267-p2.html. As a documentary by "Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen" (SRF), among others, shows2https://www.srf.ch/news/international/geschaeft-mit-dem-grundwasser-wegen-nestle-sitzt-vittel-bald-auf-dem-trockenenNestlé even bottles a whopping three billion litres of water in Vittel every year and blithely places ads on Facebook promoting Vittel's sustainability.3https://utopia.de/nestle-umweltschutz-nachhaltigkeit-197039/.
To say that I first dig up the groundwater in a French village and then transport it hundreds of kilometres to Germany for the German market is a totally nonsensical system. Selling disposables from France in Germany is definitely not environmentally friendly," said Sascha Roth, Environmental Policy Officer, NABU.4https://www.focus.de/kultur/kino_tv/zdf-erhebt-vorwuerfe-gegen-nestle-profitgier-umweltzerstoerung-bedrohung_id_12134301.html. Because we don't have any water here in Germany, I'll add.
Roman Le Fanic, Plant Director of Nestlé Waters, admitted in 2020 that they pump out more water than can be naturally regenerated5https://modern-wealth.de/nestle-die-vielen-skandale-des-schweizer-lebensmittelkonzerns. For 40 years, however, the group has not changed anything about this6https://www.srf.ch/news/international/geschaeft-mit-dem-grundwasser-wegen-nestle-sitzt-vittel-bald-auf-dem-trockenen.
"If the deep water reserves are not replenished, the population will suffer," says Bernard Schmitt of the environmental organisation L'Eau Qui Mord. "I won't be around then, but the young people will have no water from 2050. That's a serious thing. And frankly, it's criminal."7https://www.focus.de/kultur/kino_tv/zdf-erhebt-vorwuerfe-gegen-nestle-profitgier-umweltzerstoerung-bedrohung_id_12134301.html
Nestlé's sales of bottled water alone accounted for the equivalent of more than three billion euros in sales in 2022. Nestlé Pure Life is the world's biggest water brand8https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/handel-konsumgueter/nestle-marken-welche-produkte-gehoeren-zu-nestle/26278374.html
That was not all. At the World Water Forum, a conference of the World Water Council at which water supply problems, among other things, are discussed at regular intervals, Nestlé proposed in 2000 that access to drinking water should no longer be classified as a right but as a need9https://www.rnd.de/politik/nestle-die-kritik-an-dem-lebensmittelkonzern-wird-groesser-OZBT5BO3ONDZDEYE4WUQ3SIX5Y.html. Nestlé understands how to turn municipal water sources into oil. As a side note, Nestlé is also in the fossil fuel business. But differently than you think. At the end of 2019, independent laboratory analyses published by the consumer organisation Foodwatch proved that so-called aromatic mineral oil components were added to Nestlé infant milk products10https://www.rnd.de/politik/nestle-die-kritik-an-dem-lebensmittelkonzern-wird-groesser-OZBT5BO3ONDZDEYE4WUQ3SIX5Y.html. No shit. Nestlé dumps mineral oil into baby milk. Baby milk powder. Brings more profit. Bam! I got you now, you didn't know that yet, did you?
∞
Speaking of water in plastic bottles. "Nestlé produced 1.7 million tonnes of plastic last year, 13 per cent more than the year before," said Greenpeace chief Jennifer Morgan at the 2019 Annual General Meeting n Lausanne11https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/nestle-gigant-der-skandale-1.4477635. Instead of using 98 per cent disposable packaging, as it does now, Nestlé should focus on reusable solutions, says Greenpeace. It also criticises the company's lobbying activities against stricter plastic laws.12https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/nestle-gigant-der-skandale-1.4477635. 17% of plastic bags and parts in the ocean come from Nestlé13https://www.blick.ch/wirtschaft/umwelt-nestle-und-unilever-fuer-greenpeace-groesste-plastikmuell-verursacher-id7356964.html.
The global market leader Coca-Cola is the biggest plastic polluter with an annual production of three million tonnes of plastic, followed by Nestlé with 1.7 million tonnes and Danone with 750,000 tonnes. According to the German Environmental Aid (DUH), the figures show that the three beverage giants are among the main responsible actors for polluting the environment with plastic waste14https://www.duh.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/pressemitteilung/duh-fordert-wiederverwendbare-mehrwegflaschen-und-pfandsysteme-statt-umweltschaedlichem-einwegirrsin/.
And yes, of course man is shit when he throws millions of tons of plastic into the sea every year. But we wealthy, educated people have shit in our brains if we think we can flood the markets of the poorest countries in the world with plastic waste and if it then rots there in the wild - or rather does not rot there - that is not our fault and our problem. But of course it is also "our" problem and everyone who buys or uses Nestlé products supports it. I think it is fundamentally important to understand this connection so that something can change. We consumers are the only part of the problem that can change anything about the problem. Nestlé won't do shit - literally. Governments are out of their depth when it comes to global crises. Just look at global environmental policy. We can't even manage to meet the German climate targets. Instead, we push ahead with coal mining, subsidise fossil fuels15https://www.geo.de/natur/nachhaltigkeit/bmw–nestle–unilever–studie-kritisiert-klimaversprechen-von-konzernen-31610578.html and slaughtered 51.2 million pigs, cattle, sheep, goats and horses and 701.4 million chickens, turkeys and ducks in German slaughterhouses in 202216https://www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2023/02/PD23_051_413.html. In what universe is that sustainable?
You can already see how close these issues are to me. I could list more examples for hours, but I don't want to bore you with them. I hope you can follow my thoughts. I object to the fact that I am so often "argued" that nothing can be changed anyway. Because I see it exactly the opposite way. Only you can change something. And me. And every single person. You don't have to do without anything, but simply shop more consciously and open your eyes a little.
If I have not yet been able to convince you completely or if you would like to learn more, you should definitely read the next part. Nestlé is not only indirectly responsible for environmental damage, but also unnecessarily tortures animals in animal experiments and torches more and more habitats every day without relocating a single animal.
Read more (available tomorrow morning)
