Frito-Lay, a company owned by PepsiCo in Modesto, California, has received LEED Gold Certification under the existing buildings category from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), as established by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI), thus becoming the first food production facility in the state to achieve the certification under the category.
Earlier, the company has achieved LEED Gold ratings for its existing facilities in the states such as Arizona, Kansas, Georgia, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Connecticut and its head quarters at Texas.
Women Employess at PepsiCo
For the purpose of achieving LEED certification the production facility at Modesto underwent sustainability changes, which include a range of eco-friendly design and building features and water conservation engineering and practices. The photovoltaic solar facility installed at the facility in 1999 has enabled it to generate enough power to meet 25% of power requirement of the company and the solar thermal systems produces enough steam for boiling chips. The energy conserving features enabled the company to cut down its gas consumption by 25% and electricity consumption by 24% per every pound of the product.
The water conserving technologies in practice at the plant from 1999 allows it to save around 36% of water utilized for cooking every pound of corn or potato. The automatic sinks and hand washing facilities at the plant use low flow level of water. Nearly 98% of the solid waste generated at the facility is saved from reaching landfills by installed reusing and recycling programs for packaging materials and by producing animal feed out of waste products.
Source: http://www.pepsico.com/