PepsiCo has announced that it will be setting up several new innovations, partnerships and investments in an effort to replenish more water than the company uses.
The multinational corporation will invest around $2 million in the Colorado River Basin, develop new technologies in an effort to recover the water used in potato chip manufacturing, and extend safe water access to eight million more people this year.
The $2 million (£1.5 million) investment will involve partnering with non-profit Trout Unlimited to re-establish connectivity between segments blocked by the Windy Gap Reservoir near Denver. PepsiCo will also donate to the Colorado River Basin Fund to address water scarcity.
Additionally, the company’s global research and development team has devised a method for condensing and treating the steam evaporated from its potato chip fryers to recover more than 50% of the water used in manufacturing lines.
The technology, in place at the company’s facility in India, could save 60 million litres of water a year.
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In 2021 the PepsiCo Foundation also extended the reach of its safe water access program to an additional 8 million people, with hopes to reach 100 million by 2030.
“To continue to advance this goal, the Foundation is granting $1.5 million over three years to two new water stewardship programs in Latin America and Nigeria,” PepsiCo said.
This news follows PepsiCo’s “Net Water Positive” launch in August last year, which aims to replace the water used in the company’s production.
“PepsiCo has just nine years to reach our ambitious 2030 Net Water Positive goals, so there is no time to waste,” PepsiCo chief sustainability officer Jim Andrew said.
“We’re taking a look at our full value chain, from top to bottom, and asking, how can we leverage the innovation and creativity that exists within our company to ensure that the water resources PepsiCo uses are better off a decade from now than they are today?”
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