Nestle SA unveiled today a campaign with of Mbongeni Buthelezi x Nestlé for Smarties packaging going green.

Johannesburg - Earlier this year, South Africa’s popular confectionery brand, NESTLÉ SMARTIES globally announced their switch to 100% recyclable paper packaging. To celebrate this milestone, the brand has collaborated with contemporary recycling artist, Mbongeni Buthelezi to design a digital guide for caregivers to follow in creating fun origami pieces using the brand’s recyclable paper.

The NESTLÉ SMARTIES and Mbongeni Buthelezi collaboration is intended to drive the brand’s #SmartiesCreateWithPurpose narrative which is set to inspire conscious creativity by using recyclable goods.

“Essentially, the purpose of the collaboration is for Buthelezi, through his craft, to inspire and stimulate creativity among South Africans, through his use of the NESTLÉ SMARTIES new 100% recyclable packaging.  We hope that caregivers and their children will find it fun and an engaging way to educate children on planet sustainability issues through the creative expressions in repurposing the paper packaging,” says Alex Villela, Business Executive Officer, Confectionery at Nestlé South Africa

The move to 100% recyclable paper is a great showcase of the brand’s dedication to transform their packaging to be more environmentally friendly.  It also tangibly brings to life the ‘Repurpose’ pillar of the Nestlé ‘RE’ sustainability initiative.

“The repurpose pillar speaks to an approach, where as a company and through our brands, we believe we need to move away from the idea of waste and apply circular economy principles of finding new use of ‘waste’ materials into the creation of new things.  We are proud that NESTLÉ SMARTIES is a tangible proof point of this approach,” adds Villela.

“Working with NESTLÉ SMARTIES is a great achievement for me as an artist.  The entire campaign narrative and mandate purely speaks to what my work and I stand for. Being able to curate art pieces for children using the NESTLÉ SMARTIES new 100% recyclable paper packaging has been an exciting yet challenging task for me as an artist,” shares Mbongeni Buthelezi.

Buthelezi is well known as a firm advocate of using his creativity and imagination in a purposeful manner that seeks to preserve our environment. His work communicates hope.  Buthelezi uses his artwork to actively promote change in an artistic way, well-known as activism art in which he uses recyclable material to create with.  He is convinced that by telling his story and depicting his history through his artwork, he can change the path of the younger artists who will follow him and with this NESTLÉ SMARTIES collaboration, we believe both brands can lead the next generation to create with purpose.

To catch up on the conversation the brand has furthered the conversation online with various outputs to drive the #SmartiesCreateWithPurpose narrative and get South Africans to buy in to the idea of getting creative with recycling while being environmentally aware.

For all updates join the conversation by using the hashtag #SmartiesCreateWithPurpose to engage with the brand. log onto www.nestle-esar.com and follow the updates on @nestleesar on Twitter