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PepsiCo’s sustainable packaging strategy, part of its PepsiCo Positive (pep+) transformation, includes a strong commitment to advancing collection, sorting, and recycling systems that support a circular economy for packaging. In 2024, PepsiCo supported the Journey to Zero Waste program in Thailand, a voluntary Extended Producer Responsibility initiative that collected over 9,000 kg of flexible packaging for upcycling into school furniture. The company also launched new collection initiatives in Mexico, Brazil, and Uganda and collaborated with Intuitive AI to deploy the Oscar Sort AI system at PepsiCo offices and select customer locations in the U.S. to improve recycling accuracy.
Multi-layer, laminated flexible films, commonly composed of metallized and polyolefin-based layers, pose a unique challenge within recycling streams. These materials are not suitable for composting and can disrupt mechanical recycling processes designed for mono-material plastics, reducing the quality of recovered polymers. However, when properly identified and separated, they represent a valuable feedstock for alternative recovery or conversion pathways. Improving their segregation at source or within existing waste management systems is critical to realizing their potential as a resource rather than a contaminant.
PepsiCo continues to collaborate through initiatives such as the Fair Circularity Initiative and India’s Purna Project, which promote equitable and efficient waste management systems. In addition to these programs, PepsiCo seeks innovative technologies and strategies that can significantly enhance the collection, sorting, and separation of flexible packaging within existing infrastructures, accelerating progress toward a more circular packaging ecosystem.
We are looking for innovative, not-yet-commercialized, or differentiated improvements to existing approaches that can improve the collection, identification, or separation of multi-layer, polyolefin-based flexible packaging from mixed waste and recycling streams and solution that enable material identification on SKU level Solutions may involve hardware, software, process design, or behavioral interventions, and should demonstrate novelty, enhanced material recovery, or clear performance improvements compared to commercial systems currently available.
- Robotic systems for sorting or material handling with enhanced speed, accuracy
- Mechanical or automated modules for improved separation efficiency
- Optical, hyperspectral, or NIR sensors with improved detection performance
- AI/ML models for high-accuracy, faster packaging identification
- Sensor or marker tech for material recognition and traceability (e.g., tracers, digital watermarks, chemical or optical signatures)
- Retrofit or integration modules for existing recycling or sorting infrastructure
- Hybrid mechanical, optical, and digital systems with superior throughput
- Collection models that improve flexible packaging recovery rates (e.g., community or incentive-based systems)
- Collection systems/ bins that can support the collection of flexibles in less developed or not regulated markets
- Specific market strategies where rollout enabled establishing the collection
- Consumer engagement strategies that reduce contamination at the source
- Collaborative frameworks connecting collectors and recyclers
- Applicable to light weight multi-layer flexible packaging containing polyolefins, metal, inks, and coatings
- Preliminary lab, pilot, or field data demonstrating technical feasibility
- Novelty or clear measurable improvement in accuracy, efficiency, robustness, cost, or scalability potential
- Ability to distinguish between or separate different flexible packaging types (e.g., polypropylene-dominant vs. polyethylene-based materials) to enable optimized downstream recovery or processing routes
- Ability to distinguish food vs. non-food packaging (SKU level identification)
- Quantitative data on performance (accuracy, throughput, purity, or recovery rate)
- Demonstrated environmental or social benefit compared to current practices
- Designed for compatibility with existing recycling or waste management systems, ease of integration with commonly installed systems
- Evidence of scalability or pathway to integration at pilot or operational scale
- Commercially available sorting, sensing, or separation technologies without novel mechanism, improved performance, or clearly differentiation
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.
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