Learn CSR with PepsiCo

It may be known as a Manufacturer of wide variety of global products ranging from wafers to juices, mineral water to cold drinks, biscuits to dairy products, and what not. It is known for its numerous products that we consume in our daily lives. What makes this brand unique is their Portfolio of Corporate Social Responsibilities across several states in India. With initiatives from Water Conservation and Waste Management to Partnering with Farmers, PepsiCo India impacts the community hard with its diversified initiatives targeting different woes of the society.
PepsiCo India is a firm believer of Performance With Purpose which articulates its belief that its businesses are intrinsically connected to the community and world that surrounds it. PWP is about delivering more than financial performance, it’s about saying committed to continuously giving back to the community and helping enrich society. It continues to build on its strong foundation of achievements on the Purpose or CSR agenda and scale up its initiatives while focusing on the following critical areas that are linked to its businesses and where it can have the most impact. Some of their initiatives are :

Water conservation: Since PepsiCo is very much into manufacturing processes, water forms the heart of their products. And no other than PepsiCo knows it well. Over the last five years it has been able to conserve nearly 45% water. Using procedures like Reducing, Recycling, Re-engineering, it has saved around 3 billion liters of water in the year 2009, thus becoming Positive Water Balance company i.e. it will help save more water through various initiatives than it will consume in its business. Through a multipronged approach comprising awareness commitment and monitoring mechanisms for making beverages, they have been able to reduce the amount of water consumption(for making beverages) considerably. Recycling water at every possible stage of manufacturing processes and re-engineering the processes through installation of water recovery equipment and innovative processes outlines the DNA of their entire manufacturing cycle.

Water Replenishment : PepsiCo India invented a new concept of Direct Seeding which avoids three basic operations, namely, puddling ( a process where soil is compacted to reduce water seepage), transplanting and standing water, thereby saving about 30% water (0.9 million liters of water / acre). Even if 25% of the Indian rice cultivation(which uses around 75% of the farming water) can be shifted to direct seeding, water saving will be equal to the total water consumed by the Indian Industry. With the aim of harvesting water, it has developed several dams across diverse states like Karnataka, Uttaranchal, Maharashtra, etc. hence providing the accumulated water to the nearby villages as well. This is how PepsiCo has been able to reach their goal to conserve, replenish and harvest the precious asset, the water.

Waste to Wealth Programme : PepsiCo India has developed a Solid waste Management flagship in partnership with Exnora, an environmental NGO. This program not only aims at providing jobs to thousands of inhabitants of Andhra Pradesh and Haryana(majoritily women) but also proposing a clean environment to more than 450,000 people. This scheme recycles 97% of household garbage by segregating bio-degradable waste from the recyclable waste. The Bio-degradable waste thus amassed is converted into high quality organic manure through vermi-culture. This program has enabled PepsiCo to bag several National and International awards as well.

Partnership with Farmers : It has partnered with around 10,000 farmers across several states with a intend to bolster farmers income and farm-yield. These agri-partnerships have enabled farmers to learn various processes of utilizing their farms aptly to yield more. “In the next 5 years, we aim to partner with farmers from three more states and thus double the number of our partnered farmers”, states Sanjeev Chadha, the CEO and Chairman of PepsiCo India. It appears that PepsiCo is quite bullish of these partnerships as the partnered farmers also cultivate raw materials like potatoes which are used for manufacturing quite a few products like Lays, Uncle Chips, Cheetos, etc.
On being asked about the ultimate goal of PepsiCo India, Sanjeev Chadha utters, “Make significant and valuable impact in the lives of our countrymen with our products and social initiatives in the long term”. I hope the definition of CSR, for all the companies, transform as per PepsiCo’s appreciating efforts.