PepsiCo Beverages North America has announced a $15 million (€13.3 million) investment in Closed Loop Partners' Leadership Fund.
It is a private equity fund that acquires companies, including those in the packaging value chain, and strengthens their recycling infrastructure and builds circular supply chains that keep materials out of the landfill.
The investment aligns with PepsiCo's vision to create a world where packaging never becomes waste, and its plans to increase recycling rates in the United States, while simultaneously unlocking access to incremental recycled plastic supply.
It aims to propel progress against PepsiCo's target to cut virgin plastic from non-renewable sources across its food and beverage portfolios by 50% by 2030.
Recycling
In the US, all Pepsi-branded products are expected to be converted to 100% rPET bottles by 2030, with Pepsi Zero Sugar beginning to be sold in 100% rPET bottles by 2022.
PepsiCo reported that 87% of its packaging is recyclable, compostable, or biodegradable in the 2020 Sustainability Report.
Jason Blake, chief sustainability officer and SVP at PepsiCo Beverages North America, said, "The recycling landscape in America continues to be challenging, and as companies – including PepsiCo – set ambitious goals to use more recycled content in their packaging, there is more need than ever for partnerships and action to increase access to recycled material.
"Through PepsiCo Positive, our end-to-end strategic transformation agenda, sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. We are honored to expand our partnership with Closed Loop Partners through this investment to advocate for and advance the necessary work that is being done to transform the recycling system."
Ron Gonen, founder and CEO of Closed Loop Partners, added, "Demand for recycled materials in packaging is growing at an unprecedented rate, signalling an opportunity for greater investment in the recycling infrastructure that keeps these commodities in play. At Closed Loop Partners, we are committed to strengthening the circular systems that make this possible.
"PepsiCo's investment in the Closed Loop Leadership Fund builds on its existing partnership with our firm, setting a clear path forward for the food and beverage industry to advance circular supply chains for packaging. We look forward to continuing our long-standing partnership with PepsiCo and the beverage industry in building a more waste-free world."
Closed Loop Partners
PepsiCo has a long history of partnering with Closed Loop Partners to make strides in material recovery and infrastructure advancements.
In 2014, PepsiCo became a founding member of the Closed Loop Fund, now known as the Closed Loop Infrastructure Fund, which has provided investments that cities, counties, and businesses in the US use to implement necessary measures to move recycling to the next level.
These include new trucks for pick-up/hauling and cutting-edge technology to make materials recovery facilities work more efficiently.
Through American Beverage's Every Bottle Back Initiative, PepsiCo is an investor in the Closed Loop Partners' Beverage Fund, which seeks to improve the collection plastic bottles so they can be recycled.
This fund partners with other beverage companies, as well as nonprofits and NGOs like The Recycling Partnership and World Wildlife Fund, to reduce their plastic footprints, improve recycling access, provide education to residents, and modernise recycling infrastructure in communities across the country.
In 2021, PepsiCo became a founding partner of Closed Loop Partners' Composting Consortium, which brings together leading voices in the composting ecosystem in the United States to identify the best path forward to increase the recovery of compostable food packaging and drive toward circular outcomes.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Conor Farrelly. For more A-Brands news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
