Supply chain partners including INEOS, PepsiCo and Amcor collaborate to launch new film packaging made with 50% recycled plastic

15 March 2024 – The new packaging was launched in the UK and Ireland for PepsiCo’s snack brand Sunbites in late 2023. The packaging is made by recycling plastic waste into food grade packaging material using an advanced recycling process, which has been described as a complementary approach to mechanical recycling, enabling the recycled materials to satisfy the demanding EU regulatory requirements for applications such as food contact packaging, contact sensitive and medical devices.

Several partners across the entire supply chain collaborated to enable the launch of this attractive new circular packaging:

GreenDot ensured the procurement and supply of post-consumer plastic packaging waste, which was converted into TACOIL™ (pyrolysis oil) using Plastic Energy’s technology. 

INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe used this pyrolysis oil as an alternative to traditional fossil feedstock to first produce recycled propylene, before turning this into virgin-quality recycled polypropylene resin at the plant in Lavera, France.

IRPLAST uses the new resin to turn existing plastic packaging designs into new packaging films that contain 50% of post-consumer recycled materials and meet the food contact performance requirements.

Using these new polypropylene films, PepsiCo launched the Sunbites packaging in the UK. The partnership is part of PepsiCo Positive (pep+), the company’s end-to-end transformation, which aims to eliminate virgin fossil-based plastic in crisp and chip bags in Europe by 2030.

The recycled polymer content is certified under the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC PLUS) scheme, an independent third party who certify that it has been tracked through the production process using mass balance principles and that the claim being made is accurate.

The upcoming EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is expected to set out ambitious targets for recycling packaging waste for 2025 and 2030 across a range of materials and recycled content targets for plastics. INEOs said the achievement demonstrates that advanced recycling technologies can play a critical role in meeting the growing demand for the safe, circular use of recycled materials in food contact products, helping the EU to achieve its 10% recycled content objective for contact sensitive plastic packaging by 2030. 

As well as preventing plastic from ending up in the environment and reducing the use of fossil based raw materials, the circular re-use of ‘end of life’ plastic can also help to reduce total emissions.