It is the company’s first sustainability-focused factory in the European Union designed to measure CO2 emissions, intending to achieve net zero emissions by 2035.
American food and drink giant PepsiCo has opened a new €220 million sustainable snack facility in the southwestern Polish village of Święte. The facility, which will produce Lay’s crisps, among other brands, is the firm’s fifth plant in Poland and its biggest investment in the country.
The grand opening ceremony of the factory witnessed the presence of various dignitaries, including Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, the Ambassador of the United States to Poland, Mark Brzezinski, and the governor of Lower Silesia, Jarosław Obremski.
“This is excellent evidence that state-of-the-art greenfield projects can be implemented in Poland,” said Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, during the opening ceremony.
PepsiCo outlined several sustainability-focused measures 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 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 fertiliser to be used by farmers for their next crop.
Additional solutions utilised by the plant include electrifying steam generation and using an electric fleet of cars with dedicated charging stations.
The facility is expected to achieve net zero emissions by 2035, and the value of the environmental solutions used is PLN 30.3 mln. The property has technical and machinery facilities that exemplify the application of a closed-loop economy in the production process and operation of the entire facility.
The plant’s location in Święte will reduce transport routes by more than 4.5 mln km per year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions throughout the supply chain. Upcoming investment phases will bring further environmentally sustainable solutions to the plant, such as in-house wind turbines, a decentralised biogas plant using biomass left over from the manufacturing process, and the expansion of the purification plant to produce bio-fertiliser.
CEO of PepsiCo Europe 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 want to thank our associates and partners for helping us reimagine the future of food and bringing this facility to life.”
It is also the company’s first facility in the European Union designed to measure CO2 emissions, intending to achieve net zero emissions by 2035.
Chips of the Lay’s and Doritos brands will be produced in the new facility. The total area of the development, which includes PepsiCo’s production plant, office space, warehouse, and purification plant, is 54,700 sqm, while the production hall is 23,000 sqm. Budimex was the general contractor.
PepsiCo has been investing in the Polish market for more than 30 years. There are currently four plants operating in the country.
PepsiCo’s new plant in Poland: Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and CEO of PepsiCo Europe Silviu Popovici during the opening ceremony.
