Think of all PepsiCo products, they taste good but their plastic wrappers are definitely not cool.

Sending their plastic back to them!

So, nearly 90 of us, i.e., students of 2018 Batch from Stanley Medical College, Chennai, as an initiative with collaboration with Ploggaindia, sent these multi-layered plastic chips packets back to them as these aren’t bio-degradable or recyclable.

We are hoping for a reply and progressively positive actions in the near future to create a plastic-free environment and plastic-free living.

Our initiative with PloggaIndia

We collected Multi-layered Plastic wrappers from our fellow batchmates, seniors and plogged on our campus and ensured each one of us had at least 2-3 wrappers. We kept at this for 2 months! In the letter we sent to the company, we stressed the fact that we loved their food but not the packaging.

In our suggestion, we have requested them to collaborate rag pickers and waste disposal companies and make sure that any of their wrappers are not just thrown away and instead returned to the manufacturing unit where they are produced so that they can be disposed effectively or put into the circular economy.

Create alternate eco-friendly packaging

Also, we came up with ideas to positively reinforce the college students to create alternates of packaging. We sent PepsiCo at least 90 letters with more than 450 chips packets inside them for the brand to re-evaluate their packaging.

We expected a positive reply addressing the CEO of PepsiCo. But we are not too happy with their present response.

What we wanted to understand

First, is the brand concerned at all about their packaging?

Second, do they have any alternative in place for MLP’s?

Yes, the brand is concerned about their packaging and its consumers because they wrote back to us within a few days of receiving those letters.

Are the alternatives enough?

But, it seems that the alternative they have suggested isn’t convincing enough.

They wrote, “We have introduced 100% compostable packaging for Lays and Kurkure through a pilot project at Indira Gandhi International Airport and are currently evaluating the learnings from this project”.

About the letter we wrote, we mentioned about their pilot of using 100% compostable wrappers, but that’s only 78% plant material and is not compostable in normal conditions, they claim to use this word industrial condition, it’s like more technical, and laymen can’t grasp.

They replied stating that they are on this pilot in Delhi airport with the same wrappers mentioned above, clearly meaning they didn’t read our letter properly. They didn’t answer our question!

Be responsible citizens!

90 of us sent back the packaging wrappers, and PepsiCo responded. Think what if we all come together and do our bit for the environment. It’s purely the company’s responsibility to make sure that the litter they let into the environment, is disposed of effectively or recycled properly.

As responsible human beings, we should do our part!

PepsiCo, are you listening?

(The views expressed in the article are the author’s own. Let Me Breathe neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)

(Muthu is currently doing his II Prof medicine in Stanley Medical College, Chennai and is a budding environmentalist preferring environment to anything!)