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Pepsi reduces plastic use Soft drink making tough choices
BY MAX CURRY
PPepsiCo Inc., the internationally present food and beverage corporation, has announced their plans to reduce their use of virgin plastics by 20%. This move will span across all of the company’s brands and is projected to be fully implemented by 2030. With the corporation boasting prominent household names such as Gatorade, Pepsi and Lay’s, to name a few, this endeavor is not to go unnoticed in the realm of environmental protection.
The decision was highly influenced by the environmental advocate and nonprofit organization As You Sow; the two parties reached a consensus last spring to set the project’s wheels in motion. This action is projected to save nearly 500,000 tons of non-renewable plastics over the next decade.
One of the avenues through which PepsiCo will make this happen is by broadening their presence with SodaStream, allowing many of their beverages to be made at home and thus eliminating a large portion of plastic containers.
“We are pleased that the company set a significant goal to reduce plastic use by one-fifth,” noted Conrad MacKerron, senior vice president of As You Sow. “However, we have some concern that the timeline for reduction is five years longer than several of its peers have committed to.”
Keurig, Dr. Pepper, Target Corp. and Walmart Inc. are some of the big names that are also choosing to embark on the journey of plastic reduction. These corporations have all committed to meeting these goals by 2025, a significantly quicker progression than is predicted for PepsiCo. MacKerron’s concern is not based in vain competition, but instead conveys the critical cost that a delay of even a few years can bring: “Given Pepsi’s huge plastic footprint and rapidly increasing pollution of land and oceans by plastic packaging, reductions need to be achieved as quickly as possible.” In 2020, As You Sow released a Waste and Opportunity Report, which outlined a score for 50 different companies based on their plastic pollution. PepsiCo scored a D+ on this report, primarily due to their lack of reusable packaging despite having the financial resources to make such changes. The corporation’s recent commitment to change is still leaving some of these low-scoring areas unacknowledged. Despite the still-needed changes in the industry, it can be celebrated that retailers and brand owners are acknowledging the value in waste reduction.
