Poland – A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the construction of PepsiCo’s most environmentally sustainable snack plant in Europe. The over PLN 1 billion investment will be implemented in phases until 2025. The plant will provide additional production capacity for the company’s rapidly growing snack offerings, which include Lay’s fried crisps, Lay’s Oven Baked crisps, and Doritos corn chips.
The new factory will supply snacks for both the Polish market and for export to more than 20 countries, including Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary, among others. The facility, with an area similar to seven football pitches, will be built on a 30-hectare plot located in Swiête near Środa Śląska in the Legnica Special Economic Zone.
The new PepsiCo investment in Poland will have a positive impact on the steady, sustainable development of the Polish and European economies, the creation of new jobs, the development of local communities, and will contribute to a significant increase in the reach of the company’s Agrarian Program in cooperation with Polish farmers.
Ecological design
The new, ultra-modern plant has been designed with significant sustainability in mind, using ecological design principles. All of PepsiCo’s facilities in Poland already use electricity exclusively from renewable sources. But the newest facility will incorporate further environmentally friendly solutions.
In addition to low utility consumption, the plant will become fully self-sufficient in energy, using energy from its own solar panels, with plans to build its own photovoltaic farm on site in the future. Heating, cooling and water will be used in closed circuits. And rainwater will also be collected for technological use.
The potato peelings generated during production will also play a significant role – they will be further processed in a biomass generator to generate additional energy for the plant, and then turned into a low-carbon fertiliser which will be made available to farmers for further agricultural production.
