Closing the Loop: Inside PepsiCo Pakistan’s rPET Journey

 

As Pakistan progresses towards a circular plastics economy, PepsiCo’s rPET journey illustrates both the current challenges in the recycling ecosystem and the collective opportunities for scaling sustainable plastic management nationwide. Collection remains a major challenge due to the lack of segregated feedstock, as plastic collection in Pakistan is largely informal:

• Strong partnerships across industry, government, civil society, and waste collectors are essential to address systemic gaps.
• Consumers need greater awareness about the safety and recyclability of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) to build confidence in rPET products.
• Consumer education is critical to encourage waste segregation at the household level.
• PET collection and sorting infrastructure must be expanded and modernised to meet growing recycling needs.
• Active consumer participation remains central to improving recycling outcomes and ensuring stable feedstock supply.
• The government should introduce standardised guidelines and incentives to help formalise the informal waste-picking sector and improve the quality of segregated PET.
• Strengthening Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) frameworks is necessary so that producers contribute directly to collection, recycling, and infrastructure development.
• Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) should be established to develop large-scale material recovery facilities and city-level PET collection hubs that can support a reliable, high-volume recycling system.