PepsiCo inks deal for 100 per cent recycled plastic packaging

Drinks giant PepsiCo has struck a new partnership with US sustainable plastic firm Loop Industries to rollout product packaging made with 100 per cent recycled plastic by the end of the decade.

The "multi-year" supply agreement, announced late last week, will see Loop supply PepsiCo with production capacity at its factory in the US, which produces PET plastic using 100 per cent recycled materials.

Loop's technology recycles low value plastics, including ocean plastics, back into virgin grade polymer, used to produce plastic bottles and other food-grade packaging.

"Loop's technology enables PepsiCo to be a leading force in ensuring plastic packaging need never become waste," said Mehmood Khan, vice chairman and chief scientific officer at PepsiCo. "This partnership represents a step-change that will empower PepsiCo in our drive towards creating a circular economy for plastics."

As well as boosting PepsiCo's use of recycled plastics, the deal will also include a marketing and communications push to raise consumer awareness of recycling and the circular economy.

Loop founder Daniel Solomita said the new partnership will boost Loop's profile and promote its mission to cut plastic waste across the global economy. "Working with a global food and beverage giant like PepsiCo will further establish the value proposition of the Loop brand and mission - to accelerate the world's shift toward sustainable plastic and away from the traditional, take, make and dispose economy," he said.  

The move came in the same week as chocolate giant Mondelēz International became the latest food multinational to announcea raft of new sustainable packaging targets.

The company said that under its new initiative all paper-based packaging will be sustainably sourced by 2020, 65 million kg of packaging material worldwide will be eliminated by the same date, and a renewed campaign will be launched to provide recycling information in markets around the world by 2025.