What is PepsiCo hoping for from ‘pep+’?

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s part of pep+, the group is aiming to make its plastic packaging from 50% recycled material and halve its use of virgin plastic by 2030. By 2022, PepsiCo will move its key Pepsi-branded products in 11 European markets to fully recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) bottles, while also moving further into ‘better-for-you’ plant-based beverages and expanding its SodaStream home-carbonation platform.
 
“Pep+ is the future of our company,” said Laguarta at launch. “A fundamental transformation … to create growth and shared value with sustainability and human capital at the centre.”

According to GlobalData beverages analyst Holly Ingles, the move should go some way to meeting the expectations of today’s consumer.
 
“Pep+ will keep PepsiCo ahead of the competition amid consumers’ ever-increasing demand for sustainability,” she says. “The policy will be popular with the 70% of global consumers [in GlobalData’s latest consumer survey] that prefer sustainably- and ethically-sourced ingredients.
 
“Consumers are yearning for drinks that are both better for them and better for the planet. Focusing on beverages that are thought of as ‘healthy’ and ‘sustainable’ … may be a good bet in the long term, given their historical popularity in a number of markets across the globe.
 
“It is clear that consumers are watching brands’ actions closely, as well as changing their purchasing habits based on how brands respond to the environmental crisis.”

Speaking to Inside Packaging, The Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD Services) Canada programme director Steward Samuel agrees that brands that engage with consumers using sustainability cues are more likely to see sales successes.
 
“PepsiCo has placed sustainability at the heart of its business, taking sustainability mainstream and engaging people to make choices that are better for themselves and the planet,” says Samuel. “Prior to the pandemic, consumer interest in sustainability had been a growing trend and, while the pandemic caused major disruption across the grocery industry, consumer awareness in this area has been heightened.”
 
Samuel also notes that FMCG companies have been busy “updating their sustainability frameworks” this year - not necessarily for purely altruistic reasons. “Not only is there a growing body of evidence linking sustainability and financial performance,” he says, “but there’s also an expectation from investors - and consumers - that companies are making progress in this area.”

While PepsiCo’s latest initiative makes sound business sense, there are other observers who believe the move doesn’t make up for the group’s more unsustainable packaging practices.
 
“(There is) still too much emphasis on recycling for a company that is consistently ranked among one of the world’s worst plastic polluters,” says Greenpeace global project leader Graham Forbes. “The company needs to set ambitious reuse/refill targets for all products and brands.”
 
For the last three years, PepsiCo - along with The Coca-Cola Co and Nestle - has featured high on the list of polluters collated by the Break Free From Plastic NGO. In late-2020, Abigail Aguilar, Greenpeace South-East Asia’s plastics campaign regional coordinator, said of the brand owners’ most recent appearances on the list: “It’s not surprising to see the same big brands on the podium as the world’s top plastic polluters for three years in a row.
 
“These companies claim to be addressing the plastic crisis, yet they continue to invest in false solutions while teaming up with oil companies to produce even more plastic. To stop this mess and combat climate change, multinationals like … PepsiCo … must end their addiction to single-use plastic packaging and move away from fossil fuels.”
 
Earlier this year, ‘Missing the Mark: Unveiling False Solutions to the Plastic Crisis’, a report commissioned by Break Free From Plastic, even went so far as to attack the likes of PepsiCo for their “lack of ambition” for genuine change.

Like all of its FMCG peers, PepsiCo should be lauded for working to increase the environmental-friendliness of its packaging proposition. Any and all efforts are welcome - particularly by consumers.
 
Yet, for all the fanfare behind Pep+, the brand owner would do well to engage more directly with its loudest critics - and soon.