Packaging and Solid Waste

Although beverage containers are the most recycled consumer packaging in the United States - and they are designed for recycling, we continue to look for ways to reduce the amount of packaging used for our products. And we are achieving success. PepsiCo scientists and packaging specialists have led the way in reducing packaging materials through cost-effective changes in design and production, known in the industry as "light-weighting." Light-weighting reduces the amount of raw materials and energy used to make our packages and generates less waste after our products are enjoyed.

We introduced new packaging for half-liter bottles of Lipton iced tea, Tropicana juice drinks, Aquafina FlavorSplash and Aquafina Alive that contain at least 20 percent less plastic than the original package. Aquafina has trimmed the amount of plastic used in its most popular bottle - the half-liter (16.9 oz) bottle - by 35 percent since 2002. This saves more than 50 million pounds of plastic annually. Aquafina's half-liter bottle weight has changed from 15 grams to 13.2 grams putting it among the lightest water bottles on the U.S. market.

At Frito-Lay, route sales employees return empty cartons from stores to our plants for reuse or recycling and delivery boxes are used an average of six to seven times, saving nearly 5 million trees a year and keeps 56 million pounds of cardboard away from landfills. For Frito-Lay's North American and International products, Frito-Lay recycles packaging film waste from our suppliers' sites for use in various other products (park benches, boards, etc).

Our Quaker Oats facility in Cupar, Scotland has reduced the amount of corrugate used by 30% over the past 5 years by moving to cases with open tops and reduced sides. Over the last five years, PepsiCo U.K. has reduced the amount of plastic used to make Tropicana and Copella juice bottles by 18 percent.

In Mexico, our snack business saves more than 100 million boxes per year by using every box about seven times between the distribution center and point of sale. By recycling our boxes up to seven times, we save on average each year about 45,000 trees, 1,800,000 oz of water and 1,620,000 liters of fuel.

Our Latin America Beverages business has optimized beverage packaging projects across Mexico, Peru, Columbia, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Honduras and Guatemala, resulting in the removal of over 800 tons of packing annually, specifically reducing the need for PET resin for bottles, corrugate boxes, bottle-top closures and glass.

The average Pepsi bottle contains 10% recycled plastic, more than any other national soft drink brand. Pepsi-Cola's bottles and cans are among the most recycled packages made - since 1990, more than 150 billion Pepsi containers have been recycled.

Across all our U.S. divisions, initiatives conducted in 2007 to reduce packaging have resulted in more than 20 million pounds of material reduction across PET bottles, paperboard and corrugated materials. 

In the United States, Frito-Lay sends close to 20 million pounds of potato and corn solids (potato pulp and peelings, cracked corn and corn husks) to America's livestock and dairy farms where it is used for feed. Chips that do not meet Frito-Lay strict quality control standards and chips not sold in stores by the Guaranteed Fresh date, can be used by livestock feeders and pet food manufacturers as a feed supplement. This process diverts 16 million pounds of unusable snacks that otherwise might have been sent to landfill.

Tropicana minimizes landfill waste by using virtually every part of the orange, as well as its by-products after the juice is extracted. The by-products become scent extracts and animal feed.

Our Quaker Oats plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa optimizes the use of all oat hull by-products. Quaker delivers oat hulls to local animal feed markets and a nearby university that utilizes oat hulls as a raw material for the generation of power.

PepsiCo India has established a partnership with Exnora International, an environmental non-government organization, to manage domestic solid waste in an environmentally friendly manner. In 2007, the collaboration which began in 2005, was selected by UNICEF as a model project and as a center for international learning. The project involves reuse and recycling of waste.

Keep America Beautiful, Inc. (KAB) is the largest nonprofit community improvement organization in the U.S. Pepsi is a longtime, national sponsor of KAB's annual Great American Cleanup. For the past 3 years, Pepsi has brought together Sam's Club, KAB and the Aquafina water brand in a national, school-based recycling program. The program collected more than 70 million plastic bottles for recycling in 2007.