Used cooking oil powers Walkers potato trucks
PepsiCo has switched to used cooking oil to power trucks transporting potatoes from British farms to Leicester, the home of Walkers crisps.
The initiative will use 800,000 litres of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) low-carbon fuel to replace diesel across approximately 2.6 million kilometres of truck journeys, saving 2,650 tonnes of GHG emissions annually.
The transport of 240,000 tonnes potatoes each year from PepsiCo’s British farmers to its Leicester site is now entirely powered by used cooking oil, in partnership with AB Texel UK.
The move follows PepsiCo’s introduction of the alternative fuel in 2022, for more than one and a half million kilometres of truck journeys moving product between the Quaker Oats mill in Cupar and its Leicester distribution centre. Every kilometre powered by HVO generates 80% less GHG emissions when compared with conventional diesel, reducing the impact of these journeys on the planet.
PepsiCo is continuing to scale sustainable HVO fuel across the business, with plans to expand its use to the company’s transport operations in Scotland later this year. This future expansion is expected to reduce GHG emissions by another 5,000 tonnes annually. By the end of 2023, PepsiCo expects to be using HVO to power around 9 million kilometres of journeys across the UK.
Simon Devaney, sustainability director, PepsiCo UK & Ireland said the innovative moves tackles the business’s carbon footprint.
“HVO fuel plays an important role in helping us to accelerate the decarbonisation of our transport activities,” Devaney added.
Walkers has also deployed two new electric trucks, powered by freight mobility technology company Einride, which were deployed this week to transport product between PepsiCo’s factories in Leicester and Coventry. The company has also introduced new electric yard vehicles which will transport 40,000 pallets around the Leicester site.
Switching these journeys to electric will help PepsiCo cut the distance travelled using fossil-powered trucks by over 400,000 kilometres annually and reduce the equivalent of more than 1,600 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over the next three years.
Just this month, PepsiCo also announced a £60 million investment in its Leicester production site to create a new snacks manufacturing line and upgrade existing facilities. The investment will deliver several further sustainable innovations, including switching gas fired ovens to electric ones supplied by 100% renewable energy, to help cut 1,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually.
