• Frito-Lay and Quaker opened a Greenhouse Learning Center to test, measure, and analyze compostable packaging to speed up innovation and meet their packaging goals.

• The R&D packaging team will use the Greenhouse Learning Center to test the biodegradation properties of compostable packages in different environments to accelerate learning and iterate packaging solutions more quickly.

• The facility, located next to an existing prototyping lab, aims to actively change industry standards by educating partners and stakeholders on the benefits of transitioning to compostable packaging and providing training to co-ops and visitors.

PepsiCo, Inc., based in Purchase, NY, is one of the world’s leading multinational food and beverage companies. Considered as one of the largest companies worldwide regarding the market value, the brand value is estimated at almost 14 billion U.S. dollars. In addition, Pepsi was considered one of the most reputable companies in the United States.

Withsix different divisions: Frito-Lay North America, Quaker Foods North America, Latin America, North America Beverages, Europe Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia, Middle East and Africa. The company generated net revenue of almost 80 billion U.S. dollars worldwide according to the latest anual report. In addition, the company recorded 7.6 billion dollars in net income in the same year.

Despite being best known for its soft drinks, its food is the best-performing segment, Frito-Lay alone generated approximately 20 billion U.S. dollars in revenue, accounting for about one-quarter of PepsiCo’s total revenue worldwide. In this segment, brands like Lay’s or Doritos compete against other snack food products.

In terms of the company’s divisions, PepsiCo Beverages North America still generates the most revenue. Pepsi has been slowly losing market share in the carbonated soft drink category for years, at 8.7 percent in 2020. As a brand, Coca-Cola had a value of over five times that of Pepsi.

For the company, reinforcing Frito-Lay and Quaker brands is crucial and that reason have invested in a state-of-the-art Greenhouse Learning Center at their R&D headquarters to build a more circular, inclusive economy. It will be used to test, measure, and analyze compostable packaging to speed up the rate of innovation. The Learning Center is intended to enable packaging products to move from testing to certification-ready in record time to drive the business and the entire industry forward. Think of it as a in-house Amazon SIOC certification ceter.

The Greenhouse Learning Center will provide the R&D packaging team with a real-time environment to test the biodegradation properties of compostable packages in different environments. This will accelerate learning and validate lab results through simultaneous, real-time experiments as packaging formulations are improved, enabling the team to iterate packaging solutions quicker. The facility is located next to an existing prototyping lab and aims to actively change industry standards by educating partners and stakeholders on the benefits of transitioning to compostable packaging. In addition, the center will provide training to co-ops and visitors. “We must work together to inspire positive change for the planet and people, and Frito-Lay and Quaker are proud to lead the way,” said David Allen, chief sustainability officer of Frito-Lay and Quaker. The companies hope to leverage critical findings from the Greenhouse Learning Center, alongside their scale, reach, and expertise across North America and globally, to drive progress across their organization and the entire industry.

PepsiCo has integrated sustainability into its business for several decades. In 2021, the company announced PepsiCo Positive (pep+), an end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability at the center of how the company will create growth and value. Under this framework, the company has established goals for Positive Agriculture, Positive Value Chain, and Positive Choices.

The Greenhouse Learning Center is part of PepsiCo’s initiative to meet its packaging goals set under the Positive Value Chain framework, which strives to create packaging that is 100 percent recyclable, compostable, biodegradable, or reusable by 2025. The packaging industry has been a focus area for the R&D team at Frito-Lay and Quaker for several years, and the team has formed strategic partnerships to enhance the packaging process. Frito-Lay and Quaker have already released the world’s first 100% commercially compostable chip bags in 2010 and continue to progress towards improving their compostable packaging.

With the opening of the Greenhouse Learning Center, Frito-Lay and Quaker hope to accelerate their learning on the biodegradation properties of compostable packages and iterate packaging solutions quicker. This new facility is the first of its kind across PepsiCo globally, and the R&D team will use it to test the biodegradation properties of compostable packages in different environments.