As part of the PepsiCo Labs initiative – the technology venturing arm of the beverage giant – PepsiCo Europe (Geneva, Switzerland; www.pepsico.com) recently announced plans to collaborate on pilot projects with six different start-ups. The pilots are to take place across Europe in locations including Turkey, Belgium, and Portugal, and focus on four key areas: energy and automation, sustainable cleaning and hygiene technology, recycling, and water recovery.

In Turkey, PepsiCo plans to trial Pulse Industrial and BrenPower monitors, which detect failures in steam traps through an AI system. The technologies aim to reduce carbon impact at PepsiCo factories by reducing steam losses and improving overall efficiency.

Portugal is to trial Ozo Innovations, which harnesses advanced electrochemical technology for smarter, safer hygiene in manufacturing plants.

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In the area of recycling, UBQ Materials plans to turn unsorted household waste, including all organics and unrecyclable plastics, into a bio-based thermoplastic with a climate-positive footprint. PepsiCo seeks to trial this new material in Lay’s display stands throughout Turkey, enabling potential for further circularity. Security Matters, on the other hand, has developed an invisible ‘marker’ system enabling both physical and digital tracking to identify, track, and sort packaging waste, which is logged onto a blockchain system.

Once the results of the trials have been analysed, PepsiCo aims to scale the successful technologies across the supply chain in 2023. The ongoing project is aligned with PepsiCo’s broader PepsiCo Positive (pep+) agenda. The work forms part of the company’s ambition to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 75% by 2030.