Reducing virgin plastic remains Unilever’s strongest lever, but uneven access to recycling keeps 2025 PCR goals under pressure. Courtesy of Unilever.
Between 2020 and the pandemic years, global consumer goods companies pledged ambitious goals for plastic packaging. Many promised that at least 25% of their packaging would contain post-consumer recycled (PCR) content by 2025. These commitments reflected strong consumer expectations and mounting regulatory pressure.
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Five years later, the results are mixed. PCR use in packaging has doubled since 2019, yet most brands remain far from their 2025 milestones. The gap between ambition and delivery now raises critical questions: What slowed progress despite rising investment and legislation? Where have companies succeeded against the odds? Most importantly, what practical lessons can guide the industry toward realistic and scalable solutions for 2030?
Post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic has shifted from a niche solution to a strategic requirement within a decade. Companies now treat recycled content as central to packaging design and compliance. Industry data show that average PCR use in packaging rose from 5.3% in 2019 to 10.7% in 2023.
Legislative action accelerated this shift. California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington passed extended producer responsibility laws, while California mandated 15% recycled content in beverage bottles by 2022. Global Plastics Treaty negotiations added further momentum.
Despite these drivers, recycled plastics meet only 6% of global demand. Analysts forecast a 5 million metric ton shortfall by 2030. These figures underline the scale of the challenge and the urgency for coordinated solutions.
Despite momentum, several structural barriers explain why companies miss 2025 recycled content goals.
The first challenge is supply. Food-grade PCR remains limited; when available, it often costs more than virgin resin. Quality is inconsistent, with contamination and performance issues restricting use. Most curbside recycling systems collect only PET and HDPE, leaving polypropylene items like pumps and caps underserved. These constraints make it difficult for brands to secure stable, affordable supply chains.
Infrastructure is another critical bottleneck. A Recycling Partnership report shows that 40% of Americans lack access to basic recycling. Analysts estimate $17 billion in new investment is required to close the collection and sorting gap nationwide. Compostable packaging faces even greater hurdles, with few facilities able to handle new materials at scale. Without access, technically recyclable or compostable packaging remains stranded.
$17 billion applied to proven recycling solutions will have an immediate positive impact, including an economic benefit of $30.8 billion over 10 years (including wages, taxes, landfill savings, and the value of recyclables). Courtesy of The Recycling Partnership.
Unrealistic expectations have also played a role. Many companies built strategies on assumptions about rapid infrastructure growth, supportive regulation, and technological breakthroughs. These conditions did not materialize.
As Unilever explained, “When we first set our goals, we used the best information available… This has proved more challenging than any of us anticipated.”
THE GLOBAL COMMITMENT 2024 PROGRESS REPORT. Courtesy of Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
Unilever concedes it will miss several 2025 packaging goals despite progress in reducing virgin plastic and improving recyclability. Its packaging is 72% technically recyclable, but only 53% is recycled in practice due to weak infrastructure. The company admits early targets relied on assumptions about rapid technology and system advances that never materialized.
External shocks, including the pandemic, also slowed refill station expansion and innovation. Still, Unilever insists reducing virgin plastic remains the most impactful step against pollution. Executives stress broader collaboration is essential to scale solutions and accelerate systemic change across the value chain.
Walmart expects to miss its 2025 plastic and emissions goals, citing infrastructure gaps, supply shortages, and rising consumer demand. The retailer pledged a 15% cut in virgin plastic for own-brand packaging but instead reported a 6% increase. Food category growth and lack of affordable recycled feedstock drove this reversal.
Walmart notes recycled content often costs more than virgin resin and remains difficult to source at scale. Currently, 81% of own-brand plastic packaging is designed for recycling, and 92% of U.S. supplier sales carry How2Recycle labels. Yet, 40% of Americans still lack recycling access, and $17 billion investment is needed to close the gap.
In 2023, Walmart sent 210 million pounds of materials in MRBs across their U.S. operations for recycling. Courtesy of Walmart.
The company continues to cut plastic intensity per sales dollar and diverted 83.5% of operational waste in 2023. However, executives warn systemic barriers such as limited infrastructure, fragmented policies and consumer behavior block deeper progress.
PepsiCo has revised its packaging goals, narrowing its focus to key markets that account for 80% of its plastic use. The company dropped its global target of 50% recycled content by 2030. Instead, it now aims for 40% or more recycled content in those markets by 2035. Global progress on post-consumer recycled plastic remains slow. PepsiCo used 10% PCR in 2023, up from 7% in 2022 and 6% in 2021. By contrast, data from California shows its bottles averaged 36% PCR in 2024, highlighting uneven progress across regions. The company also ended its goal to deliver 20% of beverage servings in reusable packaging by 2030. It will continue reuse projects but only as part of its broader design-for-recyclability strategy.
PepsiCo cites multiple barriers. These include fragmented regulations, supply shortages, and high PCR costs. For example, India only approved rPET in food packaging this year, while China still bans it in food-grade applications. Despite setbacks, PepsiCo supports initiatives like Every Bottle Back and Circular Action Alliance to expand recycling infrastructure. It also continues to design packaging for recovery, though it narrowly missed its 2025 goal of 100% recoverable or reusable packaging, achieving 98%.
MAX bottles displaying the 100% recycled logo in Spain. Courtesy of PepsiCo.
The company admits challenges remain but insists its refined goals are still ambitious. Executives stress that large-scale progress requires investment, innovation, and cross-sector collaboration.
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Mars admits it will fall short of its 2025 pledge for 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable packaging. Currently, 45% of its portfolio is designed for recycling, but only 20% is truly recyclable, reusable, or compostable. Still, the company scaled recycled plastic integration, adding 14,000 metric tons of PCR in 2024 across Skittles, Starburst, and M&M’s jars. Pet food brand Schmackos launched 60% PCR pouches in Australia, while Whiskas cut 350 tons by shifting pots to pouches. Mars also expanded compostable paper bags for M&M’s in China.
M&M’S Compostable Packaging. Courtesy of 2025 MMS.COM.
Beyond packaging design, Mars ran pilots in bulk candy dispensing, reuse shipping containers for veterinary clinics, and creative reuse of pet food packaging in Thailand. Executives admit infrastructure gaps and high costs continue to slow progress, stressing systemic collaboration is necessary to deliver long-term change.
Target is struggling to meet its 2025 pledge to cut virgin plastic in own-brand packaging by 20% from 2020 levels. Instead of falling, usage has risen above the baseline of 38,600 metric tons, highlighting missed progress.
The 2023 sustainability report cites multiple barriers: rising sales, affordability trade-offs, regulatory pressures, and supply chain constraints. New brand categories also expanded plastic demand. These factors combined to slow progress, despite efforts to redesign packaging and substitute more recycled content.
Target has increased postconsumer recycled (PCR) use in select products, and tested reduction strategies in home goods packaging. Yet, the report acknowledges systemic obstacles. PCR remains costly, limited in supply, and technically difficult to scale across large product lines.
Executives admit meaningful change will require industry-wide breakthroughs in material innovation and infrastructure, beyond Target’s individual efforts.
Colgate-Palmolive has acknowledged it will not meet its 2025 targets for recyclable, reusable, or compostable packaging. The company cites “industry-wide challenges” linked to flexible packaging, which remains difficult to recycle at scale. Colgate had pledged in 2018, under the Ellen MacArthur Foundation commitment, that 100% of its packaging would meet circular design standards by 2025. Progress has been made, but large portions of its packaging line are still not recyclable in practice.
The company points to global limitations in collection, sorting, and recycling infrastructure. Flexible plastic formats, widely used in oral care and personal care, lack effective recovery systems in most markets. Despite these barriers, Colgate highlights ongoing progress. In 2024, it expanded rollout of recyclable toothpaste tubes, already available in more than 100 markets. It also increased the use of post-consumer recycled resins across personal care bottles.
The journey of Colgate squeeze tube recyclability. Courtesy of Colgate 2023 Sustainability & Social Impact Report.
The company stresses the cost and availability of recycled feedstock remain significant hurdles. Rising demand from global brands has outpaced supply, keeping prices for recycled plastics high. Colgate has committed to scaling innovation and industry partnerships. It says systemic change is needed, including government action, improved infrastructure, and cross-sector collaboration. Without these, it argues, circular packaging targets will remain difficult to achieve.
As 2025 nears its end, many companies acknowledge falling short of their packaging targets. Experts discussed these challenges at the 2025 Plastics Recycling Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. Anja Brandon of Ocean Conservancy warned that delays carry heavy costs, with millions of tons of plastic entering oceans each year. Jonathan Quinn of the U.S. Plastics Pact emphasized transparency, urging brands to explain challenges and progress clearly. Others cited regulatory shifts, weak infrastructure, and high PCR costs as barriers. Despite missed milestones, brands continue to invest, experiment, and collaborate. The 2025 goals may slip, but momentum toward systemic change remains alive.
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