PepsiCo sets 2030 virgin fossil-free plastic goal

This announcement from PepsiCo Europe is just one of the growing list of well-known consumer brands looking to reduce or eliminate future use of virgin fossil-based plastic in their product packaging. The company says it plans to eliminate virgin fossil-based plastic in all its crisp and chip bags by 2030. This will apply to brands including Walkers, Doritos and Lay’s.  As an alternative, PepsiCo Europe will use 100% recycled or renewable plastic in its packets.

Consumer trials of the packaging will begin in European markets in 2022, starting with renewable plastic in a Lay’s range in France in the first half of the year. Later in the year, a range from the Walkers brand in the UK will trial recycled content. The recycled content in the packs will be derived from previously used plastic and the renewable content will come from by-products of plants such as used cooking oil or waste from paper pulp. PepsiCo estimates it may achieve up to 40% greenhouse gas emissions reduction per ton of packaging material by switching to virgin fossil-free material.

Beyond the switch to renewable and recycled content, PepsiCo has developed its “Making Bags Better” program, which will focus on a series of investments and innovations so more flexible plastics will be recycled and reused in Europe.

PepsiCo Europe is advocating to set ambitious recycling targets for flexible packaging including accelerating the ban on landfills and to swiftly adopting EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) fees that drive collection, sorting and actual recycling of flexible film. PepsiCo is also investing in technology to further scale and improve sorting and recycling, trialling smart packaging on several brands in 2022 in Germany and France. PepsiCo is also exploring the conversion of packets into plastic pellets to be remade into items such as floor posts and as parts within the automotive industry.

The company has already previously announced its plans to transform its beverage packaging using 100% rPET bottles in eleven European markets by 2022 and also continue investing in building a reusable model, including through SodaStream, which aims to avoid an estimated 200 billion plastic bottles by 2030.