PepsiCo recently disclosed a GBP14m investment in novel sustainable food packaging innovations, which will eliminate 250 tonnes of virgin plastic from the business’ supply chain every year.

A new cardboard design will replace the outer plastic packaging on millions of Walkers 22- and 24-bag multipacks as part of the transition, reducing the amount of virgin plastic we use. The improved multipack outer packaging will be available in the UK’s major supermarkets in the coming weeks following a successful trial with Tesco.

The business also made an investment in a new stretch film to wrap around its pallets before distributing them to retailers, in addition to the new packaging design. The nation’s favorite chips are protected by this new film because it is made using nanotechnology, which incorporates tiny air bubbles into the material to lessen the amount of plastic used while maintaining the same strength and stretch requirements.

“The use of this new technology will lead to a 40% reduction in the virgin plastic year on year, compared to the previous film. Reducing the amount of fossil-fuel based virgin plastic in the shrink wrap will also reduce the company’s annual carbon emissions by 465 tonnes,” PepsiCo announced.

The investment represents a significant step toward our objective of removing virgin plastic derived from fossil fuels from chips and snack bags throughout Europe by 2030. The company also intends to test out novel approaches in the UK, such as snack bag packaging made from recycled plastic. All of this is a part of PepsiCo Positive, the company’s transformation plan for health and sustainability, which aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2040.

“We are constantly exploring new scalable solutions and this investment marks an important step forward, delivering a huge reduction in virgin plastic across some of our best-selling ranges, while also helping to tackle our carbon footprint. Reducing virgin plastic across our supply chain is a key part of our commitment to creating a world where packaging never becomes waste,” Simon Devaney, Sustainable Packaging director, PepsiCo UK&Ireland, concluded.