Building resilience through green tech investment and water stewardship

This case study by GreenCape examines the water stewardship and resilience strategies implemented by PepsiCo, focusing on its manufacturing facility in Parow, Cape Town. The document details how the company combines site-specific technological investments, such as advanced potato peeling equipment, with catchment-level initiatives and community water access projects to achieve its goal of becoming Net Water Positive by 2030.

• PepsiCo has implemented a series of water-saving projects at its Parow manufacturing facility in Cape Town, resulting in a total annual water conservation of 147,892 m³. The most significant individual contribution came from the commissioning of a borehole reverse osmosis plant, which saved 47,000 m³ per year.
• The company invested R27.9 million to replace continuous potato peeling technology with advanced batch peeling technology at the Parow site. This investment resulted in an annual freshwater saving of 6,360 m³ (reducing usage by 1.06 m³/hr), an annual financial saving of R173,755 from water alone, a R1.7 million annual reduction in maintenance costs, and a 0.75% increase in Total Year Revenue (approximately R1.4 million annually).
• PepsiCo is pursuing a goal to become Net Water Positive by 2030, which involves replenishing more water than the company uses and aligning with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. As part of this, eleven of its South African production facilities located in high-water-risk areas are adopting the Alliance for Water Stewardship Standard.
• At the catchment level, PepsiCo committed R29,886,000 over five years (2018-2022) to the Greater Cape Town Water Fund in partnership with The Nature Conservancy. By the end of 2022, this initiative removed 2,498 hectares of invasive species, leading to an annual water replenishment of 1,776 ML/year, with projections suggesting the removal of alien and invasive species could save 50 billion litres of water per year.
• Through the PepsiCo Foundation, the company invested R6 million into four projects to provide safe water and sanitation access: providing handwashing units and standpipes in Aliwal North (Eastern Cape); improving water access for approximately 3,600 people in Matatiele (Eastern Cape); providing sanitation services to 65,000 people in Bloekombos and Wallacedene (Western Cape); and improving sanitation for over 750 people in Ga-Moela (Limpopo).

APA

GreenCape (n.d.). Building resilience through green tech investment and water stewardship. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Building-resilience-through-water-stewardship.pdf

Chicago

GreenCape. Building resilience through green tech investment and water stewardship. n.d. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Building-resilience-through-water-stewardship.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=GreenCape |title=Building resilience through green tech investment and water stewardship |url=https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Building-resilience-through-water-stewardship.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greencapendbuilding, author = {{GreenCape}}, title = {{Building resilience through green tech investment and water stewardship}}, institution = {GreenCape}, url = {https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Building-resilience-through-water-stewardship.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }