PepsiCo, one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies, aligned with its strategic transformation, PepsiCo Positive (pep+), which puts sustainability at the heart of the business, and with the global goal of achieving Net-Zero carbon emissions by 2040, announces use of UBQ™ material. The material, developed by the Israeli startup of the same name, will be used in the creation of a sustainable pallet that includes unsorted household waste – including organics – in its composition.
During the manufacturing process of UBQ™ material, waste is diverted and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are prevented. In this initial project alone, the material implementation saves the equivalent of more than 6,500 kg of GHG emissions – the equivalent of the annual carbon sequestration of 534 trees*. More than 739 kg of mixed waste will be redirected from landfills, looped back into the material as a valuable resource. The pallets are developed by PepsiCo’s partner Ecoboxes Embalagens Plásticas, which specializes in solutions focused on sustainability and circular economy.
The UBQ™ material is a bio-based thermoplastic converted from 100% unsorted municipal solid waste, including mixed plastics, paper, cardboard, and organics, and is suitable to substitute conventional polymers in various durable applications.
The first phase of the PepsiCo project includes the manufacturing of 830 ecological pallets for use in two of the company’s logistics centers. In addition to UBQ™, the pallets are made from recycled materials that include recycled PP resin and recycled BOPP (a plastic film used in the company’s snack packaging), which completes the circular economy cycle.
“This innovation is very exciting for PepsiCo because it helps us on our journey through materials that replace virgin plastic while at the same time working on CO2 reduction. In addition, this is a differentiated material because it represents an alternative to the chain as a whole, especially with regard to collection, sorting, transportation and final disposal in landfills. Now we will go further, scale this solution in Brazil, Latin America and why not in other parts of the world,” said Raphael Cyjon, Senior Director of Operations at PepsiCo LatAm.
Also being studied is the possibility of implementing UBQ™ as a raw material for other applications across the supply chain, demonstrating the commitment of PepsiCo and its partners in the search for solutions that help accelerate its ESG agenda.
