PepsiCo on Target with Recycling Goals

PepsiCo recently released its 2019 Sustainability Report, highlighting “progress toward its sustainability goals and reaffirming the company's agenda to help build a more sustainable food system.”

The company tracks its sustainability efforts and shares insights on how this impacts the waste and recycling stream.  

But first, in a message from its chairman of the board of directors and CEO, Ramon Laguarta says, “we know systemic problems require systemic solutions, and the pandemic has brought into sharp focus the larger need to address our long-term sustainability challenges…to take bold steps to catalyze positive change and bring about a stronger, more sustainable future for us all.”

Laguarta’s note goes on to highlight three overarching aims: to grow food in a way that regenerates land, ecosystems, and farming communities; to make products in a way that is circular and minimizes waste; to inspire consumers and communities to make better choices and enable positive change.

PepsiCo’s strategy for building a more sustainable food system focuses on six priority areas, which address what it sees as the most pressing challenges facing the food system while also offering the most opportunity for the company to use its global scale to make a “positive impact at a systemic level.” 

The priority areas and a key progress point from each are as follows:

“We reduced absolute GHG emissions by 6% across our value chain in 2019, progress toward our goal of 20% by 2030.”

“In 2019, we set a new target to reduce 35% of virgin plastic content across our beverage portfolio by 2025.”

“Nearly 80% of our potatoes, whole corn, oats, and oranges are sustainably sourced, progress toward our goal of 100% by 2020.”

“As of 2019, 47% of our beverage portfolio volume in our top 26 beverage markets met our 2025 added sugar reduction target, progress toward our goal of 67%.”

“We delivered safe water access to more than 44 million people in underserved communities since 2006 (exceeding the goal five years early) and set a new target to reach 100 million people by 2030.”

“Since 2016, we've invested $38.5 million to support initiatives that provide women with essential resources for workforce readiness and programs that support women in the food system and farming.”

Some specific data points cited in the report that would be of particular interest to the waste and recycling industry include: 

The report and an accompanying video elaborate on PepsiCo’s Sustainable Farming Program that has helped more than 40,000 farmers “grow more with less, use water more efficiently, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” The company touts its global network of more than 230 demonstration farms that let farmers “learn and share techniques that can boost yield and profit.”

In an interview that accompanies the online reporting package, chief sustainability officer Simon Lowden notes that, “Even before COVID-19, the threat of climate change has demanded faster and bolder action from all of us. The resilience of our food system and the future of our planet depends on it.” He also talks about how the company recently signed the Business Ambition for 1.5°C pledge, “committing to reduce our emissions in line with limiting global warming to 1.5°C, while also developing a long-term strategy for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.”

Laguarta concludes by saying that, “With the help of partners and the leadership of our first-ever Chief Sustainability Officer, Simon Lowden, we will look to build on the tremendous progress we’ve made and double down on our efforts in the months and years ahead. We know that the success of our company and the prosperity of our societies go hand in hand. Only by working together can we emerge from the current crisis stronger than before, less vulnerable to future shocks, with more resilient communities, a more sustainable food system, and a brighter future for all.”

View the report summary here.