PepsiCo Europe has announced plans to use 100% recycled or renewable plastic in all its crisp and chip bags by 2030, in a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% per ton of packaging.
Consumer trials for the new packaging will begin in the UK with a range from the Walkers brand, where the renewable content will be made using fossil-free materials such as used cooking oil or waste from paper pulp.
These plans will later apply to UK crisp brands, which include Walkers, Doritos, Quavers, Wotsits, Snack a Jacks and Pipers, and will be delivered by using 100% recycled or renewable content in its packets.
“We see a future where our bags will be free of virgin fossil-based plastic. They will be part of a thriving circular economy where flexible packaging is valued and can be recycled as a new packet,” PepsiCo Europe chief executive Silviu Popovici said.
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“We’re investing with our partners to build technical capacity to do that. We now need an appropriate regulatory landscape in place so that packaging never becomes waste.”
Beyond the switch to renewable and recycled content, PepsiCo, in partnership with AMCOR, has developed its “Making Bags Better” program in a bid to make flexible plastics more widely recycled and reused in Europe.
AMCOR sustainability director Gerald Rebitzer added: “We are building a future where flexible packaging is part of the circular economy.”
“Together with PepsiCo, we enhanced the material technologies on PepsiCo’s new crisp packet to make it easier to recycle.
“And we are beginning to integrate renewable and recycled content into PepsiCo’s packaging. To meet the demands of our clients like PepsiCo, we encourage more partners upstream to invest in the supply chains of these new materials.”
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