PepsiCo has joined the NaturALL Bottle Alliance, to advance the shared goal of creating beverage containers with a significantly reduced carbon footprint.
The NaturALL Bottle Alliance is a research consortium formed in 2017 by Danone, Nestlé Waters, and bio-based materials development company Origin Materials to accelerate the development of innovative packaging solutions made with 100% sustainable and renewable resources.
“PepsiCo is a welcome addition to the Alliance because we share the goal of making renewable plastic a reality,” said Origin Materials CEO John Bissell. “Through the combined efforts of its members, the NaturALL Bottle Alliance is setting the bar for sustainability for an entire industry.”
NaturALL Bottle Alliance
The Alliance uses biomass feedstocks, such as previously used cardboard and sawdust, so it does not divert resources or land from food production for human or animal consumption.
The technology being explored by the Alliance represents a scientific breakthrough for the sector, and the Alliance aims to make it available to the entire food and beverage industry.
“Creating more sustainable packaging requires innovation through the value chain. Producing PET from sustainable bio-based sources that do not diminish food resources and are fully recyclable is a great example of such innovation and an important contributor to PepsiCo’s sustainable packaging program,” said Mehmood Khan, PepsiCo vice chairman, and chief scientific officer.
“Through our Performance with Purpose agenda, PepsiCo is committed to reducing the carbon impact of packaging in line with our goal to reduce absolute emissions of greenhouse gases by 20% by 2030; bio-based PET has the potential to reduce significantly the carbon footprint of our PET bottles, a huge contribution to our efforts in this area. We are excited to add PepsiCo’s R&D capabilities to the Alliance and look forward to seeing what the combined efforts of the Alliance members can achieve.”
Achievements
While still being in its pilot stage, the alliance was producing samples of 80% bio-based PET and has since worked to bring its technology into commercial markets.
It has selected a site in Ontario and begun construction of its demonstration-scale plant. The major process equipment has been fabricated and modules are under construction for this plant, which is expected to have a capacity of 18,000 tons of biomass and be fully operational by 2020.
The Alliance plans to increase production to 95% bio-based PET and achieve full commercial-scale soon after.
Frédéric Jouin, head of research and development for plastic materials at Danone, and Massimo Casella, Nestlé Waters’ head of research and development, both welcomed PepsiCo into the alliance.
The two agreed that by bringing together major players and pooling the “complementary expertise and resources”, the Alliance has taken an important step towards 100% bio-based PET on a commercial scale.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
