June 5, 2026 10:14

PepsiCo has introduced the first Gatorade-branded bottles made with Eastman PET Renew on the US market this year.
The resin is obtained through molecular recycling of polyester-based waste that cannot be processed by more conventional mechanical recycling, such as old clothing, carpet and rug fibres, opaque bottles, jars or plastic films.

The partnership between PepsiCo and Eastman is based on a multi-year agreement for the supply of PET Renew resin, although no details have been provided on volumes.

Eastman has developed a methanolysis process that converts low-quality post-consumer polyester-based waste into its constituents, which can then be reused to synthesize new plastics or fibres. A depolymerization plant has been operating for two years in Kingsport, Tennessee, US, and two more will be built in the coming years in France and Texas.

“Eastman’s technology takes colored and opaque plastic bottles and other everyday plastic materials that mechanical recyclers do not process, breaks them down to their original molecular level and purifies them, so they can be rebuilt into high-quality virgin-like bottles made with recycled plastic that can be easily customized to fit the packaging design needs of a given product,” said Lindsay Bridenbaker, PepsiCo’s vice president of global beverages packaging R&D.

“Advanced recycling is not intended to replace mechanical recycling or be a silver bullet solution to solve the global challenge of packaging waste,” said David Allen, PepsiCo’s global vice president of sustainable packaging. “Instead, it’s meant to complement mechanical recycling and help recycle the materials that fall outside existing systems and expand what’s possible for packaging circularity.”

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