PepsiCo partners up for a recyclable paper bottle

Pepsi plastic goes paper

The global consumer goods space is undergoing a fundamental shift from plastic to recyclable paper. As consumer goods go green, PepsiCo announced last week its plan to further develop and scale the world’s first recyclable paper bottle.

The announcement comes in response to commitments made by other global consumer brands. Earlier this year, Unilever launched an ambitious plan to go paper. Now other major players are following suit.

Pepsi’s purpose-driven transition adds to a growing list of sustainability commitments for multinational corporations dependent on everyday consumers. And if prices are competitive, studies suggest how shoppers are more likely to choose the more ‘sustainable’ option. Now is the right time for Pepsi to push a green message.

Billions of masks are being produced worldwide to protect citizens around the world against the novel coronavirus. In the coming years, plastic pollution will become a critical issue in the political arena. Similarly, as social justice stands at the center stage of corporate agendas, executives scramble for news ways to win the heart strings of Americans. Sustainability is just another differentiator.

Let the race for virtue signaling begin.

Next steps for PepsiCo paper bottles

“Innovative solutions and partnership are critical to driving meaningful progress toward a circular economy. The Pulpex consortium is well positioned to deliver sustainable packaging at scale and across industries, having impact beyond what any organization could achieve alone. We’re proud to be a part of it.”

Simon Lowden
, Chief Sustainability Officer,
PepsiCo

Pepsico will begin testing on the new paper bottle in 2021. The bottle is made from sustainably sourced pulp to meet food-safe standards and is designed to be fully recyclable in standard waste streams. As part of its project, Pepsico is partnering with Puplex, a UK-based sustainability packaging company, to implement the necessary design and technology.

“We’re very excited to be working on this breakthrough technology and moving toward solving the technical challenges around developing beverage packaging from renewable resources. Paper is a highly recycled material and can be sustainability sourced, but poses numerous complexities for containing beverages. Our R&D team is incredibly proud of this effort to find solutions to these challenges and drive our sustainability agenda forward.”

Ron Khan
, VP of Beverage Packaging,
PepsiCo

The push for paper is another step towards reducing the amount of virgin plastic in the production process. PepsiCo hopes to reduce virgin plastic by 35% by 2025. They are also working to make 100% of its packaging recyclable, compostable, or biodegradable by 2025. Today, they are 90% complete of that goal.

This metric is less impressive as virgin plastic bottles are entirely recyclable. The main issues arise from the recycling process itself. Yes, Americans are still really bad at recycling, but China’s rejection of Western trash tells the bigger story. What percentage of Pepsi’s bottles will be recycling? Of that percentage, how many can we feasibly repurpose back into the market?

Bottom line

With an unprecedented market demand for single-use plastic, Pepsi’s announcement comes at a critical time. PepsiCo is the #2 plastic polluter in the world behind Coca-cola.

• We need innovation and ambition in the food & beverage space, this is a good place to start
• Limiting the amount of waste in the ocean is always a win
• Pepsi still has a long way to go
  • Organizations are building new, innovative ways to clean up Pepsi’s mess.
• There is definitely a bit of greenwashing here.
  • The announcement calls for R&D testing in 2021, so we may not see paper bottles on the shelf for some time.
  • Furthermore, Pepsi did not elaborate on its major paper proposal’s inevitable impact on trees.
  • Will there be ecological offsets for the increased production of PepsiCo recyclable paper bottles?

If most of Pepsi’s plastic converts to paper, it will soon become one of the largest paper producers in the world. Evaluating what that world looks like matters.

You can read more about PepsiCo’s announcement here.