Walkers crisps to be transported in HVO-fuelled trucks

Pepsico has expanded its use of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) across its supply chain, in partnership with Stobart

. It is estimated that this will save an additional 13,000 tonnes in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by the end of the year.

Walkers crisps will now be transported from Pepsico’s Leicester site to retailers using five million litres of HVO to fuel over 11 million miles of HGV truck journeys across the remainder of this year.

This is the latest in a series of green initiatives over the past two years to expand the use of HVO fuel across the business. HVO has already replaced diesel on trucks travelling between the Quaker Oats mill in Cupar and the Walkers’ plant in Leicester as well as routes between British farms and Leicester.

This means that low carbon HVO is now being used to power 40% of transportation used to make and deliver Walkers crisps, with total miles running on HVO fuel equating to 14 million this year, saving over 16,000 tonnes in GHG emissions.

The initiative forms part of PepsiCo Positive, the company’s transformation programme which includes a goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2040.

Simon Devaney, sustainability director for Pepsico UK and Ireland, said: “Scaling up our use of HVO-powered trucks to transport our Walkers crisps all over the country is a significant further step in our decarbonisation journey. By continuing to invest in green logistics initiatives with trusted partners, we’re moving even closer to our goal of net zero by 2040.”

Walkers crisps are cooked in a blend of sunseed and rapeseed oils, both of which are vegetable oils.