Report: How are the top brands progressing on packaging sustainability in 2026?

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Intro: We look at how the top six FMCG signatories of the Ellen MacArthur Global Commitment – The Coca-Cola Company, L’Oreal, Mars, Inc., Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever – have performed across key metrics and the initiatives they have taken to cut plastic waste and pollution across their portfolios.

Key metrics:

• Ensuring 100% of plastic is reusable, recyclable or compostable: Brand and retail signatories increased their share of reusable, recyclable and compostable plastic packaging by nearly two percentage points to 72%. The Coca-Cola Company has reported a figure of 99.94%, L’Oreal 49%, Mars, Inc. 25.3%, Nestlé 60.9%, PepsiCo 77.7% and Unilever 56.9.
• Decreasing the use of virgin plastics: Unilever, Nestlé, L’Oreal and PepsiCo reduced virgin plastics by 23.49%, 20.85%, 21.30% and 4.88%, respectively. Meanwhile, Mars, Inc. and the Coca-Cola Company have increased their virgin plastic use, by 1.48% and 9.84%, respectively.
• Increasing the share of post-consumer recycled (PCR) content: Brand and retail signatories have more than tripled their use of PCR since 2018 (from 5% to 16%). L’Oreal had the highest PCR content, at 37%, Unilever 21%, Coca-Cola 18%, PepsiCo 15%, Nestlé 14.7% and Mars, Inc. 7%. Access to cheap virgin materials from China and an unsteady supply of good-quality recyclate are factors hindering progress.
• Moving from single-use to reusable packaging where relevant: Only 1.2% of signatories’ total packaging was confirmed as reusable. Of the six FMCGs, L’Oreal came top at 6%, the Coca Cola Company reported 1.11%, Nestlé 0.8% and Unilever 0.1%. Mars, Inc. and PepsiCo have no reusable packaging as yet.
• Eliminating problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging: Since 2020, brand and retail signatories have reduced their use of problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging by 6%. Approaches to this include development of monomaterial packs and paper-based replacements where possible.

Conclusion: FMCG signatories of the Global Commitment have made clear progress compared to the rest of the market but they must increasingly move from a focus on individual action to collective advocacy and action. Many are advocating for stronger extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation to drive momentum.

In our most recent report on the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) Global Commitment, published last month, we took a high-level look at the Foundation’s ambitions for the coming years and the implications for all signatories across the value chain. This month, we go a little more granular and take our annual look at how the top six FMCG signatories have performed and the initiatives they took in the reporting period of 2024-2025 to cut plastic waste and pollution across their portfolios.

We focus on these signatories in particular because FMCGs face unique challenges when moving to more sustainable packaging, driven as they are by the need to balance environmental targets with meeting consumer demands, brand protection and cost constraints – while also being subjected to the issues of regulatory fragmentation and lack of access to good-quality recycled content as the rest of the market.

Below, we go through each key metric set out by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Global Commitment, how each of the top six FMCG signatories – The Coca-Cola Company, L’Oreal, Mars, Inc., Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever – have approached these and the progress they have made.

Ensuring 100% of plastic is reusable, recyclable or compostable

The recent EMF Progress Report shows that brand and retail signatories increased their share of reusable, recyclable and compostable (RRC from now on, for the same of simplicity) plastic packaging by nearly two percentage points in 2024, to 72%. According to the Foundation, this was in large part down to eliminating problematic resins and the development of new monomaterial packaging to replace composites. Packaging designed for recycling has increased from 83% to 85% between 2023 and 2024.

While this is positive, the target of 100% is still a long way off for most FMCG signatories. Furthermore, the share of compostable packaging – always a niche solution – appears to be very low overall.

When it comes to the individual performances of the six FMCG signatories featured here, one thing to note is that they vary in terms of how much their overall plastic packaging portfolio is covered in their reporting – so for example while the Coca-Cola Company has reported an impressive figure of 99.94% RRC packaging, only 78.93% of its plastic portfolio is covered. Its reporting excludes items such as closures, labels, pre-packaged non-refillable plastic cups, and so on.

Conversely, while Nestlé’s share of RRC plastic packaging is lower at 60.9%, this does cover 95% of the portfolio. L’Oreal, meanwhile, reports a total RRC figure of 49% – something it puts down to the fact that ‘market availability of alternative technical solutions isn’t as fast as hoped’ – but this takes into account its entire plastic portfolio. So while both sets of figures show progress on previous years, it’s worth noting that absolute figures may be slightly different.

Of the other FMCGs, PepsiCo reported a total RRC figure of 77.7%, Unilever 56.9 and Mars, Inc. 25.3% - still significantly lower than the others, something Mars attributed last year to the insufficient waste management, collection and sorting infrastructure in the markets in which it operates. This remains a challenge for all signatories.

It’s worth noting also that each FMCG will have a different approach / area of focus. Nestlé, for example, has reported an RRC figure of 60.9% but it has put a particular focus on design for recycling. Indeed, from 2022, Nestlé has reported an additional KPI: “How much of Nestlé’s plastic packaging is designed for recycling”. The company’s aim is for more than 95% of its plastic packaging to be designed for recycling by 2025. To this end, it is “pioneering alternative packaging materials to facilitate recycling”.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is calling for an increase in collaborative action – the core of its 2030 Plastics Agenda for Business – and we have seen some positive examples of this when it comes to moving closer to the target of 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable plastic.

In 2024, to name one, Coca-Cola bottling partner Coca-Cola FEMSA commenced operations at PLANETA, its food-grade PET recycling facility in Tabasco, Mexico – a joint venture with ALPLA. With PLANETA, which it plans to supply from 18 newly established collection centres, the company says it is “positioned to optimize the recycled PET (rPET) production cycle in Southeast Mexico. PLANETA is capable of processing approximately 50,000 tonnes of post-consumer PET bottles annually.”

Decreasing the use of virgin plastics

According to the EMF report, brand and retail signatories reduced virgin plastic use by 1.5% from 2023 to 2024, primarily through increased use of PCR content. This marks the fourth consecutive year of reductions, which the Foundation says suggests these companies have ‘moved beyond peak virgin plastic consumption’.

Signatories, it’s important to say, have significantly outperformed the rest of the market overall. Since 2018, the global market has increased virgin plastic use by 13% while signatories have achieved a 6% reduction.

This is real progress, especially given that when we reported on this topic three years ago, signatories overall had actually increased virgin plastic use – something that was put down partly to continued recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and partly to the lack of good quality recyclate.

Again, though, these are the collective results and individual FMCG signatories have seen varying levels of success. Unilever, Nestlé and L’Oreal have all achieved significant reductions in virgin plastic use, at 23.49%, 20.85% and 21.30%, respectively, while PepsiCo has seen a 4.88% reduction.

Meanwhile, Mars, Inc. and the Coca-Cola Company have both actually increased their virgin plastic use, by 1.48% and 9.84%, respectively.

Why are some companies still finding it a challenge to reduce virgin plastics? While the industry has more-or-less bounced back from the Covid-19 pandemic, the second issue mentioned – a lack of good quality recyclate, of which more below – will still impact the rate at which FMCGs can cut virgin plastic use.

Increasing the share of post-consumer recycled (PCR) content

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has been very clear that increasing the use of PCR is essential if the industry is to decouple packaging production from the consumption of finite resources. The Progress Report shows that signatories continued to steadily increase their use of PCR (from 14% to 16% in 2024). Brand and retail signatories have performed particularly strongly, having more than tripled their use of PCR since 2018 (from 5% to 16%).

Moving again from overall progress to individual FMCGs: L’Oreal had the highest PCR content, at 37%, while Mars, Inc. reported the lowest at 7%. (The latter, however, did report that “We incorporated over 14,000 tons of recycled material which equates to 7% of our total plastic portfolio, including 100% rPET in Skittles®, STARBURST®, and M&M’S® jars in the US. We launched 60% recycled content and the first ever recycled content claim on-pack for pet food packaging on SCHMACKOS pouches in Australia.”)

The Coca-Cola company reported that, in 2024, 18% of its primary consumer plastic packaging used globally was sourced from PCR. Specifically, partner Coca-Cola Hellenic increased its use of recycled PET (rPET) to 23.8% in 2024 from 16.1% in 2023. In 2024, Swire Coca-Cola Hong Kong and The Coca-Cola Company introduced the first 100% rPET (recycled plastic) Coca-Cola beverage bottles to the Hong Kong market. All 500ml Coca-Cola Original, Coca-Cola No Sugar, and Coca-Cola Plus bottles are now made from 100% recycled plastic in Hong Kong (excluding cap and label).

Nestlé achieved an overall PCR content of 14.7% across its plastics portfolio, and the company gave specific regional examples of this. Firstly, during 2024 Nestlé Waters increased recycled content in PET bottles to 33% recycled PET globally, excluding caps and labels. Secondly, in North America, it scaled up use of rPET across beverages with brands like Coffee Mate Iced Coffee and Seattle’s Best Iced Coffee to 100% rPET, excluding caps and sleeve.

In the area of non-food grade PCR materials, pet food brand Purina NA enhanced its incorporation of recycled plastic in Tidy Cats jugs and closures by completing the transition to 100% PCR. Additionally, the transition from 25% to 50% PCR inclusion in Tidy Cats pails began in Q4 2024.

Elsewhere, PepsiCo reported that “In 2024 we used 15% recycled plastic (up from 11% in 2023) in our primary plastic packaging across our key packaging markets. In all, approximately 60 markets had at least one PepsiCo product with rPET in its packaging in 2024. Examples of these efforts include: introducing the first100% rPET carbonated beverage bottle in Taiwan with 7UP; introducing the first energy drink in India with an rPET bottle for Sting; in late 2023 in our convenient foods business, we launched Sunbites packaging in the UK with a snack bag made from 50% recycled content from chemical recycling technology.”

Moving on to Unilever, in 2024 the company said it increased the percentage of post-consumer recycled plastic to 21% (vs 20% in 2023).

It stated: “Many of our biggest brands, like Hellmann’s, Dove and Sunlight, now come in 100% recycled plastic bottles (where technically possible). While new innovation launches including Dove and Lux body washes in China and Cif cream cleaner in Turkey have increase recycled plastic use. The increase in recycled plastic use in our packaging also contributed to the reduction in our virgin plastic footprint.”

But the access to a steady supply of good-quality PCR is by no means guaranteed, with recycling facilities across Europe and the US closing, creating increasing reliance upon cheap imported virgin materials from China. To counter this, according to a recent comment piece focused on the European market, the industry needs increased financial support from government to improve recycling facilities, innovation must be encouraged and barriers to scaling must be reduced.

Moving from single-use to reusable packaging where relevant

We know that reusable plastic packaging adoption continues to be slow throughout the industry, and among Global Commitment signatories it is no different, with only 1.2% of their total packaging confirmed as reusable and many initiatives never moving beyond the pilot stage.

Of the top six FMCGs, L’Oreal still reports by far the highest numbers of reusable packaging at 6% of its portfolio (up 1% from the previous reporting year) with eight reuse pilots also ongoing.

Next-highest is the Coca-Cola Company, which has reported a 1.11% share of plastic packaging that is reusable (last year it reported a figure of 0.17, so the trend is still upwards). It reported that 14% of total beverage volume was served in reusable packaging. Sales of finished products served in reusable packaging increased by 24 million unit cases compared to 2023.

It also gave some specific examples of its work in this area. For instance, “In 2024, our bottling partner Swire US, partnered with Bold Reuse to advance reusable packaging solutions for customers by serving cold beverages in durable, returnable cups at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. These cups can be deposited in designated bins, where they are collected, sanitized, inspected, and prepared for reuse, creating a closed-loop system.”

Of the other top FMCGs, 0.8% of Nestlé’s and 0.1% of Unilever’s portfolios are reusable. Both also have one pilot ongoing.

This leaves Mars, Inc. and PepsiCo, both of which have yet to introduce any reusable packaging to their respective portfolios. That said, while not reusable, Mars, Inc. reported that it has extended M&M’S® Colorworks, a bulk dispensing system that promotes reuse, to Australia, and tested refill stations for Pet Nutrition in France.

Factors behind this slow uptake of reuse include the lack of well-implemented collection, washing and return mechanisms; consumer reluctance; and inconsistent policy frameworks – the latter of which could be addressed through collective advocacy for harmonized legislation, metrics and standards on reuse and refill systems at an international level.

To this end, signatories have now begun reporting against a new reuse metric which tracks the share of products delivered through packaging reuse systems. It’s hoped that this may create a more accurate picture of progress in this area in future.

On a positive note, there have been examples of collective initiatives to tackle some of the main ongoing bottlenecks – notably reuse. For instance, PepsiCo, Starbucks, the Coca-Cola Company and other major brands have joined forced to launch the Petaluma Reusable Cup Project, an initiative led by the Next Gen Consortium.

According to PepsiCo: “In addition to collecting over 200,000 cups for reuse, the pilot program provided key insights into what may be required to improve collection and consumer participation in future reuse initiatives.”

Eliminating problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging

The industry is generally aware by now of what constitutes ‘problematic’ packaging in the context of sustainability. In brief, this includes anything that is unrecyclable or non-compostable (e.g. multilayer plastics, PVC or PS) or that which contains harmful chemicals, such as PVDC. Items such as single-serve sachets are also included in this as they are generally too small to be detected by sorting facilities.

The Progress Report announced that 62% of brand and retail signatories have continued to reduce PVC, PS, and EPS/XPS in business-to-consumer packaging. Since 2020, they have reduced their use of items commonly identified as problematic or unnecessary by 6%.

According to Unilever, the biggest challenges for brands is finding viable and scalable replacements for materials that are hard to recycle. Each brand is approaching this in different ways.

Paper-based alternatives to plastics are a matter of growing interest. Mars, for example, reported it has been expanding compostable paper-based M&M’s bags in China, while in the UK, PepsiCo has introduced paper packaging for outer bags of Walkers Baked and Snack-a-Jacks multipacks.

When it comes to replacing multimaterial flexibles with monomaterial solutions, Mars, Inc. has introduced a new mono material pouch for its WHISKAS® brand in the UK and Germany, which it says is compatible with existing recycling infrastructure.

Lightweighting – while not the most widely-discussed topic these days – continues to be a factor in cutting unnecessary packaging. Coca-Cola reported some examples of this, including the roll-out of new lightweight PET bottle designs across the United States and Canada in 2024, which it says was expected to reduce an estimated 800 million bottles in 2025 compared to 2024.

Conclusion

Whether it’s addressing areas that are clearly still challenging (such as reuse or reducing virgin plastic use) or maintaining momentum in areas where progress has been stronger (e.g. ensuring packaging is recyclable), FMCGs must now move from a focus on individual initiatives to collective advocacy and action – what the Ellen MacArthur Foundation calls a ‘broader market transformation approach’, as per the 2030 Business Agenda for Plastics mentioned above.

The top FMCGs are already showing signs that they are invested in this approach. For example, according to PepsiCo: “In Brussels last December, we convened brand owners, policy makers and recyclers as part of our ongoing engagement with key stakeholders to discuss how better policy coherence can contribute to increased packaging circularity in Europe. In Romania and Poland, PepsiCo was among the companies who initiated and invested in the creation of each country’s first fully integrated Deposit Return Systems (DRS) for beverage packaging.”

Indeed, it now seems as though the majority of top brands are embracing and advocating for crucial legislation, notably extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws. All six FMCGs mentioned EPR as a priority for the future.

According to Mars, Inc: “We are engaging with the U.N. Plastics Treaty to End Plastic Pollution, advocating for harmonized design guidelines and EPR policies across 175 member countries, with the final negotiations set for 2025.”

And also see this from Unilever: “We are working with partners and consumers to raise awareness and find solutions to improve the recycling infrastructure for plastics. This includes supporting infrastructure development and optimizing EPR schemes, as well as helping consumers to understand disposal and collection methods.”

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation Progress Report demonstrates that both FMCGs and the wider industry are capable of progress when both environmental and business interests align. BUT – and it’s an important ‘but’ – for some time now there have been reports that brands, including signatories, have been missing or revising down their sustainability targets. This is something to bear in mind alongside the gains reported by the Progress Report.

Scaling will require continued commitment from existing signatories, more companies to enter the fold and governments to take the necessary actions to build enabling infrastructure and foster innovation.

Those who have not yet signed up can join the Global Commitment 2030 here.

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