News Items - International Association of Packaging Research Institutes
| Clemson hears about PepsiCo’s ‘buckshot’ take on sustainability As part of its two-day Sonoco FRESH Food, Packaging and Sustainability Summit this month, a Clemson University audience heard how PepsiCo is pursuing a range of packaging sustainability strategies across its food and beverage portfolio, rather than prioritizing particular approaches or material types over others. Delivering a keynote on the second day of the summit (Tuesday, September 19), president of the PepsiCo Foundation and global head of philanthropy at the multinational CD Glin talked about the Foundation and the ‘creation of innovative and sustainable solutions’.  Having discussed other topics such as water sustainability, Glin addressed the urgent need to improve the environmental impact of the company’s packaging. “It’s ‘All hands on deck’, and ‘Let a thousand flowers bloom’,” he said. “I don’t believe in silver bullet solutions, I believe in ‘silver buckshot’: spread them out. As a business, we have a whole R&D unit looking at this; and right now, there is no silver bullet.”The company has been trialling everything from compostable bags to recycled PET and board-based bottles, he added. “We’re looking at all of it, looking at what’s scalable, what’s cost-effective.” This approach also meant working with, for example, other drinks giants to find viable alternatives. “We’ll partner and collaborate with anyone who shares our values,” said Glin. “There are a lot of pre-competitive alliances trying to figure this out.” Other keynote speakers at the event included Jim Doucette of EY-Parthenon and Grant Cope of the US Environmental Protection Agency. They were followed by multiple other speakers from Clemson and beyond. Published: 09/29/23 |