Photo courtesy of PepsiCo Inc.
Global beverage and consumer products company PepsiCo Inc. says it is refining its PepsiCo Positive (Pep+) climate, packaging, agriculture and water goals to further align resources with core business priorities, “building on learnings and progress and helping its sustainability ambitions remain actionable and achievable.”
The company says its new goals account for external realities and business growth and position it for long-term sustainable growth. When it comes to its plastic packaging goals, in particular, the company says its new targets focus on driving scale in key packaging markets where it believes its efforts can make the most positive impact and better account for external factors outside of the company’s control.
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Notably, PepsiCo says it will sunset its virgin plastic reduction and reuse targets.
Initially, the company planned to cut virgin plastic from nonrenewable sources—both absolute tonnage and per serving—across its global beverage and convenient foods portfolio by 20 percent and 50 percent, respectively, by 2030. The company now says it will look to achieve an average of 2 percent year-over-year reduction in its absolute tonnage of virgin plastics through 2030 and will no longer track its usage per serving.
In its most recent data submitted to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, PepsiCo reported an increase from 2.18 million metric tons of virgin plastic use in 2020 to 2.3 million tons in 2023.
In 2022, the company announced its intention to sell 20 percent of all its beverages through reusable systems by 2030 but now will track reusability through its refined packaging design goals. PepsiCo originally aimed to design 100 percent of its packaging to be recyclable, compostable, biodegradable or reusable by this year, but has lowered that target to 97 percent or greater reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by design by 2030 in its primary and secondary packaging and will no longer seek biodegradable options.
In 2023, the company reported that its share of packaging in reusable formats was 10 percent—unchanged from when it announced the 20 percent goal in 2022.
PepsiCo also has lowered its target of using 50 percent recycled content in its plastic packaging by 2030 to 40 percent or greater by 2035 or sooner.
“As circumstances evolve, PepsiCo continually adapts how we source ingredients; make, move and sell our products; and inspire people through our brands,” Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta says. “This journey is underpinned by Pep+, which is an investment in building a stronger and more resilient business—today and in the future—and guides our actions to help create a more resilient, more sustainable food system. Our goals must evolve with us to keep our ambition to deliver on our long-term vision.”
The company says it is remaining ambitious with its sustainability targets, evolving with the latest science and being pragmatic about where efforts have been limited by external factors and systemic barriers, such as lagging infrastructure and the growth of the business. It says its refined packaging goals will continue to require investment, innovation and cross-sector collaboration to “drive systemic change and support the business.”
However, PepsiCo acknowledges that challenges remain, citing India and China as examples. The company notes that India only recently passed laws allowing recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) usage in beverage packaging in 2023, with food packaging being added this year. China currently does not allow the use of rPET in food-grade packaging.
“We know it’s important that we continue to be transparent about our progress—both our successes and the challenges—and the dynamic realities that our company and the broader industry face today,” PepsiCo Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer Jim Andrew says. “Our sustainability journey will not always be linear, but we are focused on doing the work that can both strengthen our business resilience and support a positive impact for the planet. All while remaining agile in our approach, applying learnings across our operations and sharing them with others to help create a more sustainable food system. We will continue to embed sustainability into our company in ways that aim to enhance the strength, adaptability and future growth of our business.”
Matt Littlejohn, senior vice president of strategic initiatives at Washington-based environmental organization Oceana Inc., says that by “killing its reuse goal and other goals that would actually reduce plastic packaging,” PepsiCo is hurting oceans and the environment.
“The best way for Pepsi to reduce plastic pollution is not by abandoning goals but by dramatically increasing the use of refillable bottles, which can be used up to 50 times if made of glass,” he says. “Just a 10 percent increase in reusable beverage packaging by 2030 can eliminate the need for over 1 trillion single-use plastic bottles and cups and could prevent 153 billion of these containers from getting into the world’s oceans and waterways.
“Pepsi’s customers, employees, investors and government officials who are concerned about the impact of plastics on our planet and health should hold the company accountable. This should include pushing the company to reduce products sold in single-use plastic packaging, increase products sold in reusable packaging and to report on the share of products sold in reusable formats.”
In response to PepsiCo’s changes, the Berkeley, California-based Plastic Pollution Coalition says the refined sustainability commitments are little more than voluntary goals.
“It is urgent and necessary that companies expand nontoxic reusable, plastic-free packaging and refill systems while eliminating plastic and other wasteful single-use packaging,” says Dianna Cohen, co-founder and CEO of the organization. “As one of the world’s most egregious plastic polluters, PepsiCo is shifting its goalposts in the wrong direction. More plastic recycling won’t help solve plastic pollution, nor will switching to single-use bioplastics. The answer is less plastic and less single-use of all kinds, not more.
“When PepsiCo launched more than 100 years ago, its flagship beverage was initially sold in glass bottles filled locally and as syrups mixed on the spot at soda fountains. The company began using single-use aluminum cans in the 1950s and single-use plastic bottles in the 1970s. Similarly, its earliest foods and snacks were sold in cardboard and wax paper. PepsiCo knows how to eliminate plastic because it has already proven it can sell products in plastic-free packaging.”
PepsiCo’s shift in sustainability targets follows similar changes announced by The Coca-Cola Co. in December 2024 that included the elimination of a 2022 target seeking to reduce the use of virgin plastic derived from nonrenewable sources by a cumulative 3 million metric tons from 2020 to 2025. The company also announced it would use 35-40 percent recycled content in primary packaging—plastic, glass and aluminum—by 2030, down from its 2022 goal of using at least 50 percent recycled content.