UK – Multinational beverage giant PepsiCo is rethinking its logistics strategy by rolling out new logistics initiatives, which include replacing diesel with recycled Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil in trips from Cupar to Leicester.
Transportation causes according to the University of Sydney research;19 percent of global food system greenhouse gas emissions are caused by transportation.
This is up to seven times higher than previously estimated, and far exceeds the transport emissions of other commodities.
The researchers urge that if food manufacturers are to reduce their GHG emissions–and for those that have set them, achieve net zero targets – transport must be part of the solution.
Dr. Mengyu Li from the University of Sydney School of Physics is the lead author of the study, published in Nature Food.
She said: “Our study estimates global food systems, due to transport, production, and land use change, contribute about 30 percent of total human-produced greenhouse gas emissions. So, food transport – at around six percent – is a sizeable proportion of overall emissions.
“Food transport emissions add up to nearly half of direct emissions from road vehicles.”
In response to the research and being able to achieve the 2040 net-zero goal, PepsiCo UK will power more than one million miles of truck journeys annually with used cooking oil, starting this month.
Working with PepsiCo’s haulage partner Pollock (Scotrans) Ltd, the Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO) will replace diesel for truck journeys between the Quaker Oat mill in Cupar and Leicester.
As HVO is a ‘drop-in’ fuel, it can be used as a direct replacement for diesel without any modifications to the vehicle.
Pollock Ltd said every mile powered by HVO will have 80% less GHG emissions when compared with conventional diesel.
PepsiCo UK is sourcing the HVO fuel generated with used cooking oil from its third-party supplier but is investigating whether the company could eventually use its supply.
“Waste oil from our manufacturing sites [is] repurposed into fuel and we’re exploring how we can use this to close the loop in the future,” said Simon Devaney, Sustainability Director at PepsiCo.
But thanks to our efficient processes, we have very little waste, so it would not be enough to power our fleet. There’s currently not enough supply to fill all trucks used by PepsiCo UK. However, we’re working with our haulage partners to make the switch as quickly as possible.”
At the same time, PepsiCo is introducing electric vehicles to move pallets of Walkers crisps around its distribution center in Leicester.
The first in the fleet of electric yard vehicles was delivered earlier this month with plans to expand further in 2023.
The company is using these two new sustainability initiatives to achieve a 1,200-tonne reduction in GHG emissions across its UK supply chain per year compared to current operations.
Meanwhile, the company has also upgraded its Leicester distribution center site to increase storage capacity, removing the need to transport products to and from off-site storage facilities.
PepsiCo UK estimates the upgrade has resulted in a reduction of more than 300,000km of transportation–the equivalent of traveling around the world 15 times.
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