Keurig Dr. Pepper points to recycling progress

Global beverage maker Keurig Dr. Pepper (KDP), as part of its 2019 Corporate Responsibility Report, says it is on track to achieve its goals of 100 percent recyclable or compostable packaging and 30 percent plastic post-consumer resin (PCR) content by 2025.

“The momentum against our ‘Drink Well. Do Good.’ efforts in 2019, our first calendar year operating as one Keurig Dr. Pepper team, reflects the central role corporate responsibility has at our company,” says Monique Oxender, chief sustainability officer of the firm, which maintains dual headquarters offices in Burlington, Massachusetts and Plano, Texas.

Adds Oxender, “We made progress against all our areas of focus, including reducing packaging waste and increasing circularity of our products, with 87 percent of packaging now recyclable and 20 percent made with PCR content.”

Further on the recycling front, KDP says currently, 95 percent of the company’s K-Cup pods can now be considered recyclable, and all will attain that status by the end of 2020.

KDP also points to the 2019 launch of the $100 million Every Bottle Back initiative with the American Beverage Association and industry peers to improve recycling infrastructure and support consumer education as a sustainability highlight.

The company also refers to itself as a founding sponsor and the largest funder of The Recycling Partnership’s Polypropylene Recycling Coalition, an effort to increase and improve the recyclability of polypropylene (PP), the primary material in K-Cup pods and Mott’s applesauce cups, according to KDP.

Beyond recycling, KDP says its sustainability-related activities included reducing greenhouse gas emissions “throughout the value chain” and engaging activities to improve the lives of people and households within its supply chain, and the communities in which they live and work.