Packaging

We share concern over the growing threat that plastic packaging waste poses to our environment. Packaging helps make safe, high-quality products accessible to all. It extends shelf life and helps to limit food waste. But for it to have a role in a more sustainable food system we must eliminate packaging waste.

As one of the world’s leading food and beverage companies we recognise the significant role we can play in helping to change the way society makes, uses, and disposes of plastics, and we are helping to make sustainable plastics a reality.

Progress will be driven by the increased supply and use of recycled content and alternative packaging materials. Across PepsiCo’s business and our brands we’ve made it a business imperative to help build a circular future for packaging and a world where plastics need never become waste.

Our sustainable plastics vision is rooted in three pillars: Reducing the amount of plastics we use; Recycling the plastics we bring to market; and Reinventing our plastic packaging. We recognise that tackling plastic waste is not a challenge any one organisation or country can do alone, so we are continuing to play a lead role in changing the way everyone uses plastics, through partnerships with like-minded organisations including our work with Wrap on the UK Plastics Pact.

Our Global Goals

How We're Achieving This in the UK

Reducing our packaging

In recent years, we have reduced the amount of plastic used in our multipack packaging by an average of 30% for many of our most popular products, including Walkers, Quavers, Monster Munch and Wotsits.

using more recycled plastic

We're increasing the amount of recycled content we use in our bottles. Two of our newest products, Tropicana Whole Fruit and Arto LIFEWTR are both packaged in bottles made from 50% recycled plastic. By 2025 we're aiming to reduce the amount of virgin plastic used across our beverage brands by 35%.

Efficiently designing our bottles

We strive to design all packaging with the most efficient use of materials. Over the last decade, we have been leaders in significantly, reducing the amount of plastic (polyethylene terephthalate, known as PET) in many of our beverage. We continue to innovate to find ways to reduce the volume of plastics required in our bottles, and their total carbon impact, without sacrificing packaging performance.

Developing the packaging of the future

We have a Global team of packaging engineers who are developing new types of packaging including more easily recyclable, biodegradable or compostable materials.

Packaging reduce recycle reinvent_Flexible packaging

Packaging reduce recycle reinvent_Beyond the bottle

Going Beyond the Bottle

We are working to create drink options that go Beyond the Bottle. In 2018, we welcomed SodaStream into the PepsiCo family - the largest sparkling water brand in the world by volume.

Sustainability is at the core of the SodaStream brand. Its unique product range enables consumers to create customised beverages at home using reusable bottles. We have ambitious growth plans for SodaStream.

Making Products Sustainable from the Start

Through our Sustainable from the Start programme we’re putting sustainability at the heart of our entire innovation process. This program enables all teams involved in product development, from concept to launch, to consider the environmental impacts of their decisions. Each new product we develop will be designed with carbon, water and packaging impacts in mind and we have created new tools that can estimate the environmental footprint of a product under development and then compare them to benchmarks. Over time these insights will help us make smart decisions from start to finish.

Recycling crisp packets

Walkers’ Crisp Packet Recycling Scheme was the UK’s first scheme for crisp packet recycling. More than 90% of UK households are within six miles of a public collection point.

Packets have been recycled into items with a long lifespan, including building materials and outdoor furniture. In the meantime, we’re working to make our crisp packets more easily recyclable. Across our business, we’re working towards building a circular future for our packaging with the development of sustainable packaging materials. Learn more.

Recycling drinks containers

All of our bottles are 100% recyclable and can be put in kerbside recycling making it easy for consumers to responsibly dispose of them.

We are committed to working with our peers to support a well-designed, industry-led, not-for-profit Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers in the UK. We have ambitious targets to increase the use of rPET across our beverage portfolio. You can read more about our goals here.

With a busy calendar of brand activations at live entertainment events, we are working to nudge consumers towards behavioural change in their recycling habits though the power of our brands at sports fixtures and music concerts.

Questions about plastic, answered

WHY USE PLASTICS?

Context

Food grade plastics protect quality and freshness and also make products more convenient for today’s busy consumers. Plastic used for beverage bottles (PET) is recyclable and can potentially be used repeatedly for packaging: potentially providing a circular economy for our packaging.

PepsiCo View

At PepsiCo we recognise that plastics aren’t always recycled. So we’re collaborating with peers, government and NGOs to help improve recycling and collection infrastructure in a bid to increase recycling rates. We’re reducing the amount of packaging we are using through investment in compact packaging and by providing alternatives to traditional single-use packaging. And we’re investing in developing and trialling innovative, new forms of packaging.

WHAT IS A CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Context

A circular plastics economy is one where we try to get the maximum value from the plastics we produce by keeping them in use as long as possible through reuse and recycling. For example, making sure every bottle that is produced is captured, recycled and then processed into a brand new bottle.

PepsiCo View

At PepsiCo helping to create a circular plastics economy for bottles starts with something called polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, which is a form of plastic that can be recycled repeatedly without degrading. We are striving to use more recycled PET, or rPET, in our bottles, with a goal of using 30% recycled plastic content in our plastic packaging by 2025 in the UK. But in order for us to use more rPET, more needs to become available to purchase

PepsiCo is already one of the largest rPET buyers in the world. If there were more rPET available, we would buy it! But here’s the challenge: today, due to low recycling rates and limited processing capacity there simply isn’t enough high-quality, food-packaging-grade rPET on the market. If we want to create a circular plastics economy, we are going to need to transform the entire recycling ecosystem, and so, PepsiCo is playing its part in efforts to significantly improve our current collection and recycling infrastructure.

For snacks packaging we face a different challenge. As the UK waste infrastructure evolves – and with potential changes to collection and sorting expected in the near future – we are confident that either the more easily recyclable, compostable or biodegradable materials in development will allow for improved recyclability of our crisp packets. In the meantime our own recycling scheme is helping to divert crisp packets away from landfill.

HOW CAN WE PREVENT PLASTIC FROM ENDING UP IN THE OCEAN?

Context

Keeping plastic from ending up in the ocean starts with understanding how it gets there. It’s estimated that three-quarters of the plastics in our seas come from litter in the environment that gets washed into rivers and streams by storm water, eventually making its way into the ocean. Much of it comes from countries with limited waste and recycling infrastructure, mainly in Asia.

Preventing plastic from ending up in our oceans requires changes in how we think about, use, and dispose of plastic, and importantly, improving infrastructure in those countries to stop the flow of plastics into our oceans. For consumers, this means recycling the plastic we use. For companies, it means using innovative types of plastic in packaging, designing packaging to be 100% recyclable, compostable, or biodegradable, and helping improve recycling infrastructure. And for governments, it means stepping up infrastructure investments and regulations to help boost recycling rates, particularly in those countries that are the largest contributors to this problem.

Ocean plastic is an issue that transcends borders. We all have a role to play in reducing it at the local and regional level.

PepsiCo View

At PepsiCo we are working to minimise the amount of plastics ending up in the oceans by supporting recycling initiatives in regions most acutely affected by ocean plastics, reducing the amount of plastics we use in our packaging, and increasing the recycled content in our packaging.

In October 2018 the PepsiCo Foundation announced that it was among the first investors in Circulate Capital, contributing US$15 million to catalyse investment in solutions to reduce ocean plastic pollution in South and Southeast Asia.

In September 2018 we announced that PepsiCo would collaborate in the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), led by the World Economic Forum, which will work with stakeholders in coastal economies to show how businesses, communities and governments can redesign their waste management systems to create a circular model.

And in February 2019 we joined the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, a consortium of chemical and plastic manufacturers, consumer goods companies, retailers, recyclers, and waste management companies working to make the dream of a world without plastic waste a reality.

In the last year alone PepsiCo has invested more than $50 million around the world in collaborative initiatives to boost recycling rates.

WHAT ARE SINGLE-USE PLASTICS

PepsiCo View

At PepsiCo we’re striving to build a world where plastics need never become waste. As one of the world’s leading food and beverage companies, we recognise the significant role we can play in helping to change the way society makes, uses, and disposes of plastics, and we are playing our part to help make sustainable plastics a reality. And so we’re pursuing a strategy of reducing, recycling and reinventing our plastic packaging to help create a circular economy for plastics.

WHY CAN’T PEPSICO USE MORE RECYCLED MATERIALS?

Context

Most plastic packaging can be broken down into raw materials again through the recycling process. This process can be repeated many times. However, EU food safety regulations prevent us for using recycled plastics in packaging that comes into direct contact with food, with the exception of recycled PET for drinks bottles.

PepsiCo View

We are working hard towards our goal of making 100% of our packaging recyclable, compostable, or biodegradable by 2025.

Overcoming existing regulatory barriers is only part of the solution. That is why we are supporting groups such as WRAP and others to build a circular economy for plastics
in the UK.

WHY NOT ALWAYS USE PLASTIC ALTERNATIVES LIKE GLASS OR ALUMINUM?

Context

Plastic is a highly recyclable material that is lightweight, durable and convenient. When choosing what materials to use in packaging manufactures have to consider environmental impact, food safety, affordability, and consumer preferences, and often, plastic is the best option.

PepsiCo View

PepsiCo uses returnable glass - or other materials such as aluminium or sustainably sourced, paper cartons - for select products. But each option has an impact on consumers, retailers and the environment. For example glass is heavy and can cause a greater impact from greenhouse gas emissions. It is also has a very low post-recycled value limiting recyclers' ability to resell the material to packaging producers.

Currently 85% of our food and beverage packaging by weight is recyclable and we’re working to improve on that.

WHAT IS RPET AND WHY IS IT USED?

Context

rPET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate) is a recycled version of PET or polyethylene terephthalate which is a popular food-grade plastic used to create bottles and food packaging. It’s different from plastic made from virgin materials as it comes from PET that has been previously used for packaging and does not require the use of new raw materials. Because of this, rPET also has a lower greenhouse gas footprint than virgin plastics.

PepsiCo View

rPET is an important part of the Recycle pillar of PepsiCo’s plastics strategy. We’re already among the largest buyers of rPET in the beverage industry, and we would buy more of it, if it were available. But to do that we need to increase recycling rates and rPET processing, hence our support of industry-wide initiatives to build a circular economy for plastics in the UK.

ARE YOU HELPING TO TACKLE THE PROBLEM OF LITTER AND ENCOURAGE RECYCLING IN THE UK?

Context

UK households recycle 45.7% of their waste and local and central government are working towards a target of 50% by 2020. It is thought approximately 70% of packaging waste was recycled in the UK in 2017 – which exceeds the EU target of 60%.

Information regarding litter is more ad hoc, but with some figures suggesting 744 items per 100 metres of beach and food/food packaging forming 23% of recovered litter during some litter picking activities, clearly there remains work to do.

Key Partnerships

PepsiCo is a signatory of Wrap's UK Plastics Pact, a collaborative initiative working towards building a circular economy for plastics. It brings together businesses from across the entire plastics value chain with UK governments and NGOs to tackle the challenge posed by plastic waste.

Learn More

PepsiCo is an investor in the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, a non-profit organisation partnering with the finance community, government and civil society that has raised $1.5 billion to bring new ideas to end plastic waste.

Get Involved

The New Plastics Economy works to move towards a 70% recycling rate for all plastic packaging. Led by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation it brings together industry, government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), scientists and students with the goal of building a more sustainable approach to plastics.

Learn More

PepsiCo is a partner of Carbios, a company pioneering ways to both improve the number of times plastic can be recycled and its quality.

Learn more

In collaboration with other consumer good companies, PepsiCo is part of the Loop initiative. A trial site in Paris offers people the ability to purchase products from major brands in durable packaging designed for reuse.

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This collaborative working group of companies and associations is involved in flexible packaging with the mission to integrate flexible packaging into the circular economy through system redesign.

Learn more