PepsiCo Europe is working with Germany’s GreenDot Group to recycle plastic waste into materials for snack soft packaging, in line with PepsiCo’s goals to increase recycled content in packaging and reduce the company’s carbon footprint.
Germany’s GreenDot Group is an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) management and circular plastics recycling provider established in 1990, producing high-quality recycled materials, including hard-to-recycle waste. GreenDot will invest in developing plastic packaging-to-packaging recycling capabilities, including advanced recycling of polyolefins, to provide the large-scale solutions needed by the food industry. "This agreement is an important milestone for the industry. It further paves the way for a circular economy for plastic packaging and is supported by a long-term partnership with key players in the value chain," said Laurent Auguste, CEO of GreenDot, in a statement. "This collaboration will help expand GreenDot's recycling capabilities to include chemical recycling."
The new PepsiCo Sunbites flexible packaging is made from food-grade film made from recycled polypropylene resin produced from pyrolysis oil from chemical recycling of plastic waste. The recycled content in Sunbites packaging is allocated using a mass balance approach and is certified by the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification ISCC Plus.
Currently, GreenDot is expanding its sorting and recycling capabilities in Germany. It has also established a network of mechanical and chemical recycling plants in Europe to provide recycled polymers to brands and suppliers.
Through the Ellen MacArthur Global Commitment, PepsiCo has pledged to design packaging that is 100% recyclable, compostable or reusable by 2025. This is a serious challenge for snack brands, as snack packaging is often made of multi-layer composite flexible packaging materials that are difficult to recycle. At the same time, the cooperation with GreenDot is also in line with PepsiCo Europe's goal of removing virgin fossil-based plastics from all potato chip bags by 2030.