Food and beverage giant PepsiCo announced today the opening of a €300 million (USD$320 million) plant in Poland, described by the company as its greenest factory in Europe, incorporating renewable energy for operations and a series of circular economy measures to reduce water waste and help address global food system challenges.

The company said that the plant is set to be climate neutral by 2035.

PepsiCo outlined several sustainability-focused measures in place at the plant, including low utility consumption, the generation of its own energy using rooftop solar panels, and plans to add an onsite solar farm in the future. The plant will also collect and recover rainwater and heat process water for use in building utilities.

The company also highlighted the plant’s circular solution for leftover potato peelings from the manufacturing process, which will be used to help power the facility using anaerobic digestor technology, and converted into low carbon fertilizer to be used by farmers for their next crop.

Additional solutions utilized by the plant include the electrification of steam generation, and the use of an electric fleet of cars with dedicated charging stations.

The opening of the new facility follows the launch in 2021 by PepsiCo of its comprehensive sustainability framework, pep+, encompassing a broad range of ESG initiatives across agriculture practices, climate, water and packaging sustainability, and consumer health. The company has set sustainability goals including achieving net zero emissions by 2040 and become water positive by 2030.

The plant will export to more than 20 European countries, and create 450 new jobs, according to PepsiCo.

PepsiCo Europe CEO Silviu Popovici said:

“Poland is a strategic market with a significant development potential, where we have been investing for over 30 years. The opening of this new, environmentally sustainable snack facility is a major milestone for PepsiCo in Europe. We would like to thank our associates and our partners for helping us reimagine the future of food and bringing this facility to life.”

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