The NaturALL Bottle Alliance, a research consortium formed in 2017 by Danone, Nestlé Waters and Origin Material, has announced that PepsiCO, Inc. has joined the Alliance to accelerate together 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.”

The Alliance also provided a progress report in its goal of developing and launching a PET plastic bottle made from bio-based material. Launched in March 2017, 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,” he added.