PepsiCo Veurne invests 7.5 million euros against increasing drought

In total, PepsiCo is investing approximately 7.5 million euros in the various water projects.

Production of chips very water-intensive

Within PepsiCo, West Flanders is classified as a high-risk water area. The production of chips is very water intensive. For example, about 5.5 liters of water is needed to produce one kilogram of chips.

That is why extra measures are being taken at PepsiCo to find solutions for drought. PepsiCo Veurne thus invests in optimizing water consumption, collecting and reusing rainwater and the moisture in potatoes, and smart monitoring.

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Water treatment plant is expanding

Specifically, PepsiCo will expand its water treatment plant. This means that 95 percent of the filtered process water must be reused instead of the current 50 percent. In addition, the company, together with several partners, is starting a new water network to collect, purify and reuse waste water and rainwater.

The moisture in the potatoes used by the company will also be recovered. During the production process, a condenser collects the water vapor from the potatoes. Then the condensed water is purified for reuse. For example, the site in Veurne will save about 120,000 liters of water per day.

Water consumption is also monitored in the factory. Teams in the factory continuously measure water consumption on the production lines. This has resulted in water savings of more than 10 percent in the last two years.