Environmental Leader

In 1999, Frito-Lay, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PepsiCo, set a corporate-wide manufacturing reduction goal which includes a 50 percent reduction in water, 30 percent in natural gas, and 25 percent in electricity. Now, the company says it has nearly reached its goals, the Monroe Street Journal reports.

Without the reductions, the company “would have spent $55 million more this year on water and energy,”Al Halvorsen, Director of Environmental Sustainability for Frito-Lay told students of Stephen M. Ross School of Business at a recent presentation.

The company reported the solar panel installation at its Modesto, California facility helps to reduce 2 million pounds of CO2 emissions annually. Frito-Lay planned a major ad campaign back in April to tout that the facility is making SunChips with solar power. SunChips began adding a Green-e logo to its packages last year.

Last October, it completed installation of its planned solar electric power system on the roof of its Arizona Service Center, the company’s largest U.S. distribution center.

In 2006, the company purchased more than 1 billion kilowatt hours of renewable energy, equivalent to enough energy to power 90,000 residential homes for a year.  The company is also working hard to convert its fleet of 14,000 route vans and 3,000 box trucks to hybrid technology.