PepsiCo is investing £58 million into making its Leicester-based Walkers crisp factory more sustainable, the biggest investment the brand has made in the UK in the past 25 years.
The investment will include a new manufacturing line, the replacement of existing machinery with more sustainable equipment, as well as an extensive upgrade of employee facilities for the site’s 1,120-strong workforce.
New features at the Walkers site – which is home to Britain’s third biggest grocery brand – will include replacement ovens powered by 100% renewable energy, and will help cut around 1,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year.
PepsiCo has said that this will help drive its pep+ commitment to cut absolute emissions (scope one and scope two emissions) by more than 40% by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2040.
Subscribe to Sustainability Beat for free
Sign up here to get the latest sustainability news sent straight to your inbox each morning
The addition of a new line will also increase the factory’s capacity, allowing for some lines currently manufactured in Europe to be moved to the Leicester base, once construction is complete in 2024. This will reduce transport-related emissions by an estimated 915 tonnes a year.
Compact packaging equipment will help remove around 56 tonnes of virgin plastic a year from snacks, helping the brand towards its goal of eliminating virgin plastics (newly made as opposed to recycled plastics) by 2030.
This follows in the wake of previous sustainable food packaging innovations, such as new cardboard designs replacing outer plastic packaging on millions of Walkers 20-bag multipacks.
PepsiCo UK SVP and general manager Jason Richards said: “In 2023 we’re celebrating 75 years of Walkers crisps, so there’s no better time to renew our commitment to Leicester – a city and community that have been crucial to our success in the UK”.
“As we look ahead to the next 75 years and future-proof our UK operations, this £58 million investment will transform our manufacturing site and installing state-of-the-art equipment will help us deliver on our ambitions on packaging and health.”
“Alongside upgrades to meet increased demand for our snacks we’re proud to be investing in creating better facilities for our people, who remain at the heart of bringing our most loved snacks to households across the country.”
The investment has been designed to deliver sustainable growth as part of pep+ (PepsiCo Positive), a strategic end-to-end business transformation focusing on sustainability.
