Packaging, Recycling & Waste Packaging Recycled Content Waste Reduction Goal: Innovate our packaging to make it increasingly sustainable, minimizing our impact on the environment. Packaging PepsiCo associate with 100 percent recyclable 89 ounce PET bottle at the Tropicana plant in Ft. Pierce, Florida. At PepsiCo, we are researching new ways to package and deliver our products to minimize our impact on the environment and reduce costs. PepsiCo packaging-reduction initiatives conducted in 2013 eliminated nearly 110 million pounds of packaging material from the market and reduced our packaging costs by more than $55 million across our global food and beverage operations. Our Global Sustainable Packaging Policy outlines our goal to strive for the smallest possible environmental footprint while still meeting the value, cost and performance criteria expected from consumers and customers. Recycled Content DID YOU KNOW? Naked Juice is the only nationally distributed beverage brand that uses 100 percent post-consumer recycled PET in its bottles. PepsiCo was the first and only major consumer packaged goods company to incorporate post-consumer recycled content into its polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, beginning in 2004. Recycled PET comes from plastic that has already been used for packaging, such as plastic bottles. Prior to being transformed into a new plastic bottle, the plastic is sorted and cleaned, in accordance with food safety standards. Since 2004, we have been incorporating, on average, up to 10 percent post-consumer recycled PET in our primary soft-drink containers in the United States. PepsiCo Progress: Using Recycled Materials In 2013, PepsiCo transitioned its Gatorade 15-count packages of 32-ounce bottles from 100 percent corrugated cardboard to a combination tray/shrink film. This conversion is now 100 percent complete at our 13 plants and has resulted in nearly 39 million pounds of material reduction. In France, we incorporated 5 million pounds of recycled PET, achieving up to 50 percent recycled content in individual product lines. This equates to 29.5 percent of our total resin usage in 2013, a 30 percent increase from 2012. In Germany, we achieved our 2015 goal of utilizing 25 percent recycled PET in approved bottles in 2013 by using 10 million pounds of recycled PET. This is equal to a 250 percent increase as compared to 2012. In Canada, 7UP bottles were the first 100 percent post-consumer content bottles for a carbonated soft drink. PepsiCo Brazil’s Porto Alegre facility is now utilizing 2-liter PET bottles with 100 percent rPET for Teem carbonated soft drinks. This will help to eliminate the use of 334 tons of virgin PET per year. Throughout 2013, the initiative expanded to include 40 percent recycled PET for Pepsi-Cola and 100 percent rPET for H2OH. In 2012, the Brazil business began using a 100 percent recycled shrink wrap at the Curitiba plant. This initiative expanded to the Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre plants in May 2013. Lightweighting One key element of PepsiCo’s packaging strategy involves ongoing research to reduce packaging without compromising quality and safety. Initiatives to reduce packaging include lightweighting, film downgauging, bag optimization, reducing carton size and much more. One example is our effort to adjust the equipment used to seal our food bags so that we can reduce the size of the seal flap. By reducing seal size and right-sizing a number of primary packaging items, Frito-Lay North America was able to eliminate more than 11 million pounds of flexible film packaging in 2013, which is equivalent to 6.5 billion 1-ounce single-serve bags. Next-Generation Materials PepsiCo has enjoyed a competitive advantage globally in the area of packaging, particularly in plastics. Our advanced research and development teams are assessing several promising options to incorporate next-generation materials into our bottles and food packaging, including bio-based bottles made from agricultural waste and next-generation compostable films. PepsiCo R&D Develops a Fully Recyclable 89-Ounce Tropicana Container Go behind the scenes and learn how PepsiCo R&D brought this innovation to life. LEARN MORE 1 2 PepsiCo’s recycling-at-the-pump containers at a Kum & Go in greater Tulsa, Okla. Recycling In 2010, PepsiCo set a goal of partnering to increase the U.S. beverage-container recycling rate to 50 percent by 2018, a shift that would capture billions of containers and significantly reduce carbon emissions. Since launching our recycling program, beverage-container (aluminum, PET, glass) recycling rates for the major container materials used by American Beverage Association (ABA) members, including PepsiCo, have increased 8 percentage points, from 34 to 42 percent, as measured by the ABA. PepsiCo works with colleges and universities, K–12 schools and our customers to deliver innovative recycling solutions. In 2013, we invested in the operation and delivery of our recycling programs, increasing the total amount of material recycled to more than 18 million pounds and 324 million containers since 2010. We see recycling as not only the right thing to do for our planet, but also as a competitive advantage. For example, in partnership with our customer, Kum & Go, we piloted a recycling-at-the-pump program in 2013 at 47 Kum & Go locations in the greater Tulsa, Okla. area. The program placed a PepsiCo recycling bin at fuel pumps to provide accessible recycling opportunitiesb for consumers. This test program diverted 6,000 pounds of waste from landfill in 2013. The PepsiCo Foundation, along with 15 other leading companies, announced an initiative called the Closed Loop Fund, which plans to invest $100 million in recycling infrastructure projects, and increase private and public funding for transforming the U.S. recycling system. PepsiCo Recycling offers a turnkey recycling solution for college and university campuses. With kiosks located on nearly 60 campuses in 24 states, PepsiCo helps participating schools track recycling progress through an online leader board competition and offers special promotions as a way to engage college students throughout the year. In K–12 schools nationwide, PepsiCo provides educational tools and ideas to inspire students to create videos and develop original art made from recyclables. In 2013, PepsiCo teamed with more than 1,000 schools in 38 states, collecting 42.5 million recycled beverage containers and awarded more than $500,000 in cash prizes for recycling and eco initiatives. Pepsi Liter of Light Program PepsiCo and the MyShelter Foundation partnered to build the Pepsi Liter of Light Program, which brings eco-friendly light to communities in the Philippines living without electricity by recycling packaging materials. The bottle lights make use of everyday materials: PET, water, corrugated sheet metal and chlorine. Each light, lasting up to 10 years, costs about $2 and takes 30 minutes to install. As of April 2014, Pepsi Liter of Light has installed 190,000 bottle lights in 95,000 homes and donated 800 solar-powered night lamps and 33 street lamps, partly through Pepsi donations and awareness initiatives. LEARN MORE Waste Reduction PepsiCo continues to make investments to conserve energy and raw materials, reduce waste in our facilities, recycle containers, use renewable resources and optimize package design to use fewer materials. In 2013, nearly 93 percent of total waste generated by more than 280 company-owned manufacturing facilities was put to beneficial use, such as recycling or reuse; only 7.2 percent was disposed of through more traditional methods, such as landfills. In 2013, PepsiCo’s landfill elimination efforts enabled us to avoid $3 million in landfill costs, while increasing revenue from recyclable and reusable materials diverted from landfills. Globally, 22 manufacturing facilities achieved the goal of zero waste sent to landfill and 48 have achieved near-zero waste sent to landfill. In 2012, a new ReCon landfill-elimination initiative was launched in our South American, Mexican and Asian businesses to drive further reduction of waste sent to landfill. Through the first two years of implementation, this initiative has identified more than $3 million in additional cost savings. DID YOU KNOW? As part of our commitment to reducing waste, we’ve been reusing our Frito-Lay North America shipping cartons multiple times for decades. In doing so, we avoid purchasing nearly 300,000 new cartons annually and reduce CO2 emissions in our Frito-Lay North America fleet equivalent by almost 45,000 gallons of gasoline every year. Waste to Wealth Since 2008, PepsiCo Latin America Beverages has worked with partners to establish recycling programs that we call Waste to Wealth. The objective is to lead solid waste solutions that take care of the environment, improve the quality of life and work of recyclers, facilitate the development of a local recycling market, are sustainable in time and involve our business, people and products. In 2012, the Waste to Wealth program delivered impressive results in Argentina, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Peru. The social and environmental benefits achieved include: Waste to Wealth Recycling Center in the Dominican Republic. Social impacts 164,931 people trained. 2,726 new jobs created by recycling. Individual income increased by $2,150. Revenue of recycling organizations increased by $47,926. Environmental Impacts 2,202,430 kWh of electricity saved. 6,219 barrels of oil saved. 6,534,774 BTU of energy saved. 12,140 cubic yards of landfill space saved. BACK TO TOP