At the end of 2023, new packaging for Sunbites, PepsiCo's popular snack brand, was launched in the UK and Ireland with 50% recycled plastic. The packaging was produced using an advanced recycling process to meet the increasingly stringent requirements of EU legislation.
Several partners worked together to realise this project: GreenDot secured the sourcing and supply of post-consumer plastic packaging waste which was converted into Tacoil (pyrolysis oil) using Plastic Energy's technology; Ineos Olefins & Polymers Europe used pyrolysis oil as an alternative to traditional fossil feedstocks to produce recycled polypropylene; Irplast used the new resin to convert existing packaging into new films containing 50% post-consumer recycled material and meeting food contact requirements; Amcor converted these films into packaging with the same technical performance as virgin plastic packaging.
This partnership is part of the PepsiCo Positive (pep+) project, the company's end-to-end transformation to eliminate fossil-based virgin plastic in crisp bags in Europe by 2030.
The forthcoming EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is expected to set new and ambitious packaging waste recycling targets for 2025 and 2030 for a range of materials and targets for the recycled content of plastics. This result shows that advanced recycling technologies can play a key role in meeting the growing demand for recycled materials in food contact products, helping the EU to achieve the target of 10% recycled content in food contact plastic packaging by 2030.
