PepsiCo aims for Net Water Positive by 2030

PepsiCo has announced several water-saving innovations that can help progress its ambition to be Net Water Positive by 2030. This includes developing a new technology to recover more than 50% of the water used in its potato chip manufacturing, investing nearly US$2 million for the Colorado River Basin and signing a new partnership to scale a drip irrigation technology.

For its potato chip manufacturing lines, the company has developed a method for condensing and treating the steam evaporated from its fryers to recover more than 50% of the water used. The energy recovered from the condensation can also be used for other manufacturing purposes, such as cooling part of the plant or converting it to electricity, reducing the plant’s energy needs. Pepsi has trialled the process at its facility in Kolkata, India, and estimates that it could save around 60 million litres of water a year. The process is expected to be put into use in nearly 30 potato chip manufacturing plants in high water-risk areas.

It has also invested in two partnerships in the Colorado River Basin, which is one of the world’s most water-stressed regions. The first partnership is with Trout Unlimited which is working to construct a channel that bypasses the Windy Gap Reservoir, thus connecting two previously blocked segments of the Colorado River and restoring perennial flows throughout the river. The second investment for the Colorado River Basin Fund to introduce technology that can help reduce water scarcity. It does this by investing in startups that offer novel solutions to problems such as leak detection and water monitoring.

The company has also worked with N-Drip, which is developing a high-efficiency irrigation system powered by gravity that uses minimal energy to operate. The system has been trialled in India, Vietnam and the US, where it reduced water usage by 50% compared to flood irrigation and increased crop yields.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Denis