Today, we've announced a series of new innovations across our logistics operation, which are set to lead to a 1,200-tonne reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions each year across our UK supply chain once fully rolled-out1.
Starting this month, we will power more than one million miles of truck journeys in the UK each year with used cooking oil. Working with our haulage partner, Pollock (Scotrans) Ltd, the Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO) will replace diesel and will be used on trucks travelling between the Quaker Oat mill in Cupar and Leicester, the home of Walkers. Every mile powered by HVO will have 80% less GHG emissions when compared with conventional diesel.
Since 2017, all of our UK manufacturing sites have used 100% renewable electricity, with waste from producing Walkers crisps being used to make animal feed and biofuel, as well as fuelling our special anaerobic digestor. The anaerobic digestor alone generates 25% of electricity for our Leicester manufacturing site.
Walkers begins roll-out of new electric-powered yard trucks
Alongside the switch from diesel to HVO for certain trucks, we're is introducing new electric vehicles to move the 40,000 pallets holding some of Britain’s favourite crisps2 and snacks around our distribution centre in Leicester. The first in the fleet of electric yard vehicles was delivered earlier this month with plans to expand further in 2023.
Taken together, these initiatives will help us meet our aim of reducing the ongoing impact of our journeys on the planet. It forms part of PepsiCo Positive, our transformation programme with health and sustainability at the centre, which includes a goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2040.
“Using alternative fuels across our manufacturing and logistics operation is one key component in our plan to reduce our emissions footprint. The work in this area is never done, and we’re constantly exploring every possible solution to reduce our impact on the planet. These initiatives have huge potential, and we look forward to expanding the use of lower-emission transport solutions across our UK operations.”
These changes come a year after we completed a £14 million upgrade of our Leicester distribution centre, one of our biggest logistics investments in the UK, to increase storage capacity. By increasing storage capacity, we removed the need to transport product to and from off-site storage facilities, taking over 300,000km off the road in transportation– the equivalent to travelling around the world 15 times.
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[1] compared to current operations.
[2] For verification, see https://www.walkers.co.uk/mostloved