Keurig Dr Pepper says it will make all K-Cup coffee pods in the U.S. recyclable by 2020. | Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock
Keurig Dr Pepper announced its goal of using 30% post-consumer content across its packaging portfolio by 2025.
The beverage giant, which was formed as a result of last year’s merger between Keurig Green Mountain and Dr Pepper Snapple Group, recently released its 2018 corporate responsibility report. In it, Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) says it will make all K-Cup coffee pods in the U.S. recyclable by 2020, convert to 100% recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025 and use 30% post-consumer material in its packaging by 2025.
“We are ensuring that our packaging materials are optimally designed to be the highest value possible for recycled plastic buyers, which will increasingly include KDP,” according to the report. “We are replacing dark-colored plastics, making our bottle labels and caps compatible with bottle recycling processes and pursuing consumer education campaigns on how to ‘recycle right’, with an aim to reduce contamination in the recycling stream.”
Separate from its packaging, KDP reports it has also started using recycled plastic in its Keurig coffee brewers, and it is looking to use recycled plastic “work in progress” products such as pallets and trays. KDP is a member of the Association of Plastic Recyclers’ (APR) Demand Champion campaign. (Disclosure: APR owns Resource Recycling, Inc., which publishes Plastics Recycling Update.)
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