As part of its sustainable plastics vision, PepsiCo, Inc. announced a new goal to strive to use 25 percent recycled content in its plastic packaging by 2025.
PepsiCo aims to achieve this goal by collaborating with suppliers and partners, helping to increase consumer education, fostering cross-industry and public-private partnerships and advocating for improved recycling infrastructure and regulatory reform. The goal includes an aim specific to PET (polyethylene terephthalate) beverage bottles to achieve 33 percent recycled PET content by 2025.
"PepsiCo's sustainable plastics vision is to build a PepsiCo where plastics need never become waste. We intend to achieve that vision by reducing, recycling and reusing, and reinventing our plastic packaging—and leading global change through partnerships," said Mehmood Khan, vice chairman and chief scientific officer at PepsiCo, in a statement. "Already, PepsiCo is one of the world's largest users of food-grade recycled PET. To further boost recycled content across all plastic packaging and drive progress toward a circular economy for plastics, it is vital to dramatically increase global waste collection and recycling rates through investment in recycling infrastructure and technology."
PepsiCo's new goal builds on goals announced in 2016 under the company's Performance with Purpose 2025 Agenda. The 2025 agenda included goals for PepsiCo to strive to design 100 percent of its packaging to be recyclable, compostable or biodegradable; to increase its use of recycled materials; to reduce the carbon impact of its packaging; and, in partnership with the PepsiCo Foundation, to work to increase recycling rates.
PepsiCo has made a number of recent announcements in support of its sustainable plastics vision and related Performance with Purpose 2025 Agenda goals. These include:
- A multiyear supply agreement with Loop Industries to incorporate Loop PET plastic.
- Collaboration with the Global Plastic Action Partnership.
- The launch of All in on Recycling with The Recycling Partnership.