PURCHASE, N.Y. — PepsiCo has debuted pep+ Partners for Tomorrow, a new platform that delivers solutions that aim to support its customers in achieving their sustainability goals. The initial launch will focus on U.S. customers with plans to expand the program to key global markets by 2024.
Partners for Tomorrow programs include:
CIRQU (the latest evolution of the PBNA-led program formerly known as BottleLoop): includes the on-demand collection of recyclable beverage containers for foodservice and retail customers, which are then processed and reclaimed by PepsiCo to become recycled PET packaging. PepsiCo Beverages North America (PBNA) has partnered with Replenysh to make it easy and free for its customers to help ensure that plastic, glass and aluminum containers are collected and recycled into the supply chain to be re-used. The program expanded to serve five times as many communities in 2022, compared to 2021. There are currently more than 250 host locations actively collecting material across 10 states and 58 communities.
Re-usable Cup Solutions: PepsiCo is piloting several re-usable cup solutions with partners in select markets in support of PepsiCo’s goal to have 20 per cent of all beverage servings it sells delivered through re-usable models by 2030. Most recently, PepsiCo kicked off a re-usable cup pilot timed to the Oak View Group’s grand re-opening of the newly renovated CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. Working with TURN, the system features gamification to incentivize event attendees to return the re-usable cups after use. Previously, the PepsiCo foodservice team developed branded aluminum “collector” cups in partnership with a leading convenience retailer and SodaStream ran a university on-campus pilot that paired SodaStream in home units for dorm rooms with a re-usable SodaStream bottle that could be refilled at various locations across campus.
Re-generative Agriculture: A re-generative agriculture program, which PepsiCo is calling sow+ Agriculture, is designed to enable PBNA and PFNA customers to make direct investments in efforts to convert agricultural land to re-generatively-farmed acreage and to allow PepsiCo and its suppliers to drive progress towards re-generative agriculture goals. The investments will directly assist farmers through loans and grants with the aim to convert their land to new practices that help improve soil health, reduce erosion and improve water quality. The program also provides a forum for convening industry influencers to discuss concepts, trends, opportunities and risks around re-generative farming.
North America Customer Sustainability Summit: The annual summit will educate and help enable PepsiCo’s customers to drive progress on their sustainability journeys by hearing from a range of internal and external thought leaders who have successfully collaborated to drive progress toward sustainability goals.
pep+ REnew: Launched in 2022, the pep+ REnew collaboration is the first value chain partner initiative of its kind in the food-and-beverage industry and increases value chain partner access to renewable electricity as part of PepsiCo’s goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040. Because many small and medium businesses face challenges when trying to participate in the renewable electricity market, pep+ REnew is designed with two goals: to educate PepsiCo’s value chain partners about their renewable electricity choices, and to quicken the transition to renewable electricity through aggregate power purchase agreements (PPAs) and other renewable electricity procurement options.
Additionally, some of PepsiCo’s key projects designed to drive progress against the company’s pep+ ambitions for climate, packaging and agriculture include:
Fleet Electrification: PepsiCo is implementing a fleet of electric vehicles at its facilities that aim to help reduce emissions on the journey to net zero.
Manufacturing and Fleet Excellence: Frito-Lay revealed the near completion of its 500,000-sq.-ft. facility in Modesto, Calif., which is a first-of-its kind showcase for sustainable manufacturing, warehousing and distribution technologies. The transformation at Modesto includes replacing diesel fleet assets with Zero Emissions (ZE) and Near Zero Emissions (NZE) alternatives, installing fuelling and charging infrastructure for the new fleet, and on-site renewable energy generation and storage. To date, the Modesto transformation has resulted in a 91 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the facility’s direct fleet operations. Scheduled to open within the next year, PBNA’s new Denver manufacturing facility aims to become net water positive, with a first-of-its-kind advanced water recycling system and robust replenishment in the local watershed.
rPET: In 2023, PBNA is working to increase rPET used across several beverage brands including offering Pepsi, Mtn Dew and Aquafina products in bottles made from 100 per cent rPET in multiple U.S. geographies. PepsiCo estimates that shifting to bottles made from 100 per cent rPET reduces GHG emissions by approximately 30 per cent per bottle. By 2030, the entire Pepsi-branded portfolio aims to phase-out bottles made from virgin plastics.
Re-generative Agriculture Partnerships: Recently, PepsiCo partnered with three farmer-facing organizations – Practical Farmers of Iowa, Soil and Water Outcomes Fund and the IL Corn Growers Association – to drive adoption of re-generative agriculture practices across the U.S.
“PepsiCo has a long history of working together with our partners to advance shared sustainability goals. The Partners for Tomorrow platform aims to scale those solutions to foster the most effective partnerships and longstanding impact,” says Todd Squarek, senior VP, Chief Sustainability Officer for PepsiCo Beverages North America. “With this platform we’re leveraging the shared scale of PepsiCo’s and our customers’ businesses to maximize impact, drive progress toward our pep+ goals, and benefit both our businesses, the planet and the communities we serve.”
“At PepsiCo and Frito-Lay, our retail customers are true partners, including when it comes to addressing the impacts of climate change,” says Cara Keating, Chief Customer Officer, Frito-Lay North America (FLNA). “Through the launch of the Partners for Tomorrow platform and its robust portfolio of solutions, we are taking an important step forward in how we collaborate with our customers to progress toward critical sustainability goals, meet consumer demands, and, ultimately, drive commercial value together.”
