PepsiCo Spain will launch the entire range Pepsi in 100% Recycled Plastic Bottles (rPET) in 2021.
Spain will thus become the first market for the company in the world to launch the new bottle for the Pepsi range, which, being 100% recycled plastic, will reduce its carbon footprint by 40%.
In 2020, the company had already incorporated 50% recycled plastic (rPET) in the 2L bottles, its most commercialized format, of the KAS, 7UP and Pepsi brands. Now, with the migration of bottles from the Pepsi range to 100% recycled material, the company will reduce the use of virgin plastic by 74% in its total beverage portfolio.
The company announced in 2018 its goal of incorporating 45% of recycled material by 2025 and 50% by 2030 in the European Union, so this goal has been significantly exceeded in Spain. This milestone has been possible thanks to technological innovation that allows the safe use of 100% recycled plastic in carbonated beverages and a growing supply of quality of this material in Europe.
Pepsi MAX, Pepsi MAX Lima, Pepsi MAX without caffeine, Pepsi Light, Pepsi Light without caffeine and regular Pepsi in all their formats, will be the first carbonated beverages in this market with a 100% recycled plastic bottle, that is, without virgin plastic .
PepsiCo's focus on three pillars also includes reduce the use of plastic and reinvent its packaging and the way consumers dispose of its products. In 2021 the plastic rings that group the cans will be eliminated, which will be replaced by cardboard. PepsiCo has also started to market its 2L bottle, 6% lighter than the previous one. The third pillar, reinventing, includes exploring new materials such as a 100% recyclable paper bottle through the Pulpex consortium, or new consumer models such as SodaStream, a domestic soft drink dispenser that eliminates the plastic bottle.
The Echávarri-Viña plant, a benchmark in sustainability
The Echávarri-Viña (Álava) plant is the first PepsiCo plant in Europe to test bottles with 100% recycled material in carbonated beverages and will also be the first in the world from where the first Pepsi brand bottle with 100% recycled material.
Likewise, it has been in this plant where the solution has been developed that will eliminate the plastic grouping rings, thus being replaced by cardboard, and where the first tests will be carried out in Europe to keep the cap attached to the bottle, as requires European legislation by 2024.
All these advances come when the 45th anniversary of the PepsiCo beverage plant in Echávarri-Viña (Álava) is celebrated, which culminates this year with the largest investment in its history, close to 9 million euros to be completed in 2021 with 5 million additional.
During the last 11 years, the plant team has worked with the firm intention of reducing its impact on the environment, reducing its water and energy consumption by more than 34% and converting it into a 100% electricity plant from renewable sources and practically zero waste.
