Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines, Inc. (PCPPI)—the exclusive manufacturer of PepsiCo beverages in the country—has significantly reduced its virgin plastic resin usage in 2020, from 19.7 metric tons (MT) in 2019 to more than 76MT last year. This is the weight of around 3.8 million single-serve Pepsi polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles.

This brings the company’s total virgin resin usage reduction to 939.4MT since 2014, forming part of its plastic footprint reduction and sustainability efforts.

As PCPPI maintains its momentum in hitting its sustainability targets, the company has also reduced its carton packaging material usage. It saved as much as 2.6MT of carton, after it changed from standard to sleek can designs.

This year, PCPPI continues to refine its operations and products to contribute to the United Nation’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) by strengthening its commitment to its Integrated Plastic Management Agenda.

“Part of our DNA as responsible producers is to reduce our plastic content in our products and packaging through lightweighting initiatives. This is us re-imagining and transforming our relationship with the environment while promoting sustainable growth for our business, our communities, and our stakeholders,” said PCPPI president and CEO Frederick Ong.

According to the Packaging Digest website, lightweighting is the practice of “replacing packaging material with a lighter weight alternative or cutting down the amount of packaging material used.” PCPPI uses lightweighting to decrease its virgin plastic content in its plastic packaging by 35% by 2025, consistent with PepsiCo’s sustainability vision.