Sustainable Food Packaging Development Efforts at PepsiCo

Date & Time: 
Fri, 10/19/2018 - 12:00pm
Speaker: 
Sridevi Narayan-sarathy
Affiliation: 
PepsiCo
Location: 

Discovery Park F175

Abstract: 

Environmental sustainability is one of the pillars for PepsiCo’s Performance with Purpose objective and packaging is a significant component of our Carbon footprint. Use of bio-based materials in Flexible packaging could help reduce the green-house gas emissions associated with food packaging. In addition to that, flexible packaging has also a challenge from an end of life point of view as recycling is not an option with current multi-layered structures. This leads to significant littering, marine pollution and other problems that have adverse effects on our business. We have developed a multi-pronged approach to address this problem globally by developing materials which are bio-based and can be recycled or easily composted. This is based on a deep materials science understanding of novel materials development with the right partners, solving engineering challenges of conversion and building supply chain that is committed to leaving a more sustainable world for our future generations.

Biography: 

Sri Narayan-Sarathy is Senior Principal Scientist and member of the PepsiCo Global R&D Fellows program. Sri received her M.Sc. in Chemistry and M.Tech. in Polymer Science & Technology from Indian Institutes of Chennai and Delhi respectively. She got her Ph.D. in Polymer Science & Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Prior to joining PepsiCo in 2010, Sri was Technology Manager/Principal Scientist at Ashland Performance Materials.

Sri’s research interests are in the areas of Materials Science and Chemistry. At PepsiCo, she is leveraging her extensive experience with different polymer chemistries to identify and develop bio-based materials for sustainable flexible packaging with good end of life. Sri also has an adjunct faculty appointment in the Department of Grain Sciences at Kansas State University.

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