PepsiCo has rolled back its use of 100% rPET bottles, despite previously committing to transitioning all of its ready to drink products to recycled plastic by the end of 2022, The Grocer can reveal.
The soft drinks giant had been making “good progress” towards the target, which it announced in 2020, and had moved some of its products into 100% rPET by the end of 2021, a PepsiCo spokesman told The Grocer, confirming the news.
However, it is understood while the business had sufficient supplier capacity to convert clean and processed plastic waste into new bottles at the start of 2022, demand quickly begun to oustrip supply in the ensuing months.
PepsiCo was “facing some supply issues which has meant that we have had to lower the percentage of rPET used across these products,” said the spokesman, adding the Pepsi, Lipton and 7up owner was “working hard to establish additional supply”.
Its smoothie brand Naked is still being sold in 100% rPET bottles, having switched over in 2020.
The lack of availability of recycled plastics has become a point of contention over recent months – especially since the introduction of the plastics tax in April this year, which applies a £200 per tonne levy on all plastic packaging manufactured or imported into the UK that contains less than 30% recycled plastic.
It was touted as a game-changing move in the war on plastic that cut down on the amount sent to landfill and incinerators.
However, the reality is more complicated, with critics arguing it has caused the price of recycled materials to surge and hindered innovation. Prior to the introduction of the tax, The Grocer reported the price of recycled plastic polymers had skyrocketed by as much as 70%.
Indeed, speaking to The Grocer earlier this month, one leading supplier said supply had become “incredibly tight” because of extra demand due to the plastic tax as well as the strain on supplies affecting all of Europe.
As a result, it is understood some suppliers have opted to use virgin plastics and swallow the tax bill.
PepsiCo’s commitment to moving into rPET spanned a total of nine European markets including the UK. At the time, PepsiCo Europe CEO Silviu Popovici said the brand also planned to “go further and faster in other European markets where the conditions allow”.
At the time of writing it was not clear how PepsiCo’s plans to move to 100% rPET in those regions was affected.
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