Yum Energy Cutting Trims Emissions, Saves $17M Over Last Two Years

December 10, 2008

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Yum Brands, parent of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC, released its first corporate responsibility report titled “Serving the World” (PDF).

Since 2006, the company says it reached total annualized savings of 60,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions. It has also cut $17 million in energy expenses, exceeding it’s goal to cut emissions by 51,000 metric tons.

The company now plans to cut energy use by 12 percent in U.S. restaurants and by 10 percent in international locations by 2010. These efforts including installing compact fluorescent lamps, energy management systems to control operational hours of lights, replacing restaurants with high-efficiency air conditioners. In Australia, the company has also been testing the use of natural gas open fryers in place of electric fryers.

The company reported that its U.S. brands use molded fiber drink cup carriers that are made from 100 percent recycled content and use trayliners with 40 percent recycled content. In 2008 Taco Bell eliminated trayliners, and reduced the materials used in its packaging by redesigning two plastic cups and seven different paper wraps, in total cutting paper usage by 3.2 million pounds and plastic by 4.6 million pounds.

In May, the Dogwood Alliance released a report calling on fast food companies to stop using so much packaging and to increase the use of recycled paper.

Earlier this year, Yum Brand scored low in Climate Counts’ second annual Company Scorecard.