LEICESTER, United Kingdom — Seven PepsiCo manufacturing facilities in the United Kingdom, including the firm's largest factory in the country, have gone zero waste and no longer send rubbish to landfill, the company announced last week.
In keeping with the firm's goal to shrink its footprint worldwide, the seven plants had become zero-waste sites by the close of 2009. Five plants had hit the target by early December.
The Walkers plant in Leicester, the maker of crisps and other snacks, is the largest PepsiCo manufacturing site in the U.K.
The company cited two key ingredients to plant's success: The enthusiasm of employees and the appointment of four "waste marshals" by the plant's sustainability manager.
The waste marshals were in charge of making sure that waste was correctly sorted and stored -- and that all their coworkers were educated about how to separate and recycle and the reasons for doing so.
At the start of 2008, the plant was sending 32.3 tonnes of waste to landfills each month. The campaign to reduce waste brought that down to 1.5 tonnes a week by the end of 2008. From there, workers brought the figure to zero in 2009.
Image courtesy of PepsiCo UK & Ireland.