For Nestlé it is important that its brand promise “Good food, Good life” is communicated in a credible way. Brand trust is key for the company. However, Nestlé’s lack of corporate communications for more than 5 years and the great investment in communications by competitors of the food sector have led Nestlé’s brand trust in Mexico to decline over the years. The situation was even more accentuated with the Covid-19 pandemic, when economic and environmental problems in the country were brought to light, increasing consumer demands for companies to take a positive action for the environment. That is why we needed to reconnect with Nestlé’s audience to stop the fall in trust and strengthen Nestlé's position within the category through relevant and innovative technological and sustainable action that attract Millennial audiences towards the entire Nestlé corporation and not only its most commercial brands.

In Mexico, 9 out of 10 people do not know how to recycle. This is why we created Trash-later, the first trash translator based on Google Translate technology, helping people understand the language of recycling and guiding them throughout the process. Trash-later identifies thousands of materials through visual recognition, voice or text and translates them into what they could become if they were recycled. Built with machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities, the tool also provides step by step information to recycle the materials and the location where they can be collected/disposed of (using Google Maps data and user’s location). The tool works across all devices to make it the most accessible and inclusive possible. We created a unique technological solution, leveraging users devices capabilities (mic, webcam/cameras/geolocation) to make recycling much easier.

49% of Mexicans are willing to recycle, but do not know how. (Source : “Encuesta Nacional Defoe 2020 – Animal Político / El Universal). Although most of Nestlé’s competitors talk about the planet, they tend to focus on promises or long-term projects. We decided to differentiate ourselves with a concrete action, providing people with a tool from which they can learn everything they need to actually recycle their waste. We decided to rely on millennials' most relevant influencer : Technology! Already an essential part of the audience’s day to day, it is also considered as a learning tool for most users. They turn to Google to find an immediate answer to their questions and/or learn something. We decided to capitalize on their digital behavior to strengthen the relationship with Nestlé, providing a new technological solution and enabling people to start recycling day after day.

We developed Trash-later, a web application inspired by Google translate to create the first waste translator. Trash-later identifies the material or product searched by the user by comparing it to over 100,000 of images stored in our database. We created a neuronal network that is able to recognize the material or product from different angles. Our solution identifies the content and generates a real-time response. By using machine learning and artificial intelligence, it shows users what their material could become if recycled and how to correctly dispose of it in simple steps. The tool uses visual and speech recognition, and text search, allowing users to very easily search by images, voice, or text from any device. We use the geolocation data of users’ device (opt-in) with data from Google Maps to show the closest recollection locations for them to bring their materials.

More than 1.2 million unique users have already interacted with our platform so far and visits to Trash-later keep increasing, turning it into a tool of reference for Mexicans to keep learning & recycling day after day.

Not only did we stop Nestlé’s decline in Brand Trust from the past 5 years, but we reverted it and achieved a +7pts increase of the Brand trust index score (3pts above target), achieving the #1 place of the category in Mexico, positioning Nestlé as the leader in terms of environmental care, eco-friendly packaging and actions for recycling.

With every users’ search, Trash-later collects data on materials, places and audiences interested in recycling; data that was not available before and that today helps optimize future efforts of the brand and partners to help promote recycling. With Trash-later millions of Mexicans now have access to a tool that empowers them to recycle.