Part of my job as a sustainability manager for PepsiCo South America Foods is to put value in our waste. So it is with pleasure that I share a story about the project we recently launched in Belén de Umbia, Colombia, called “Plastic House,” which embodies two planks of PepsiCo’s Performance with Purpose initiative.
First, Environmental Sustainability. We have a lot of packaging waste, and we thought, “What can we do?” We have the responsibility in South America to make something with our waste, and we came up with the idea to use it to build a house. We used 7.5 tons of recycled plastic and 4.5 tons of packaging from PepsiCo products in the construction.
Next, Talent Sustainability, which means contributing to better living standards in the communities we serve. The house will serve as a culture center that will be managed by local women who are mostly householders with no formal training. The house has a library, computers and internet access, and training sessions will be offered.
When we gave the key to the Women’s Association, the president of the association couldn’t talk because he was so emotional. No words.
For me, it was a thrill to drive this project, which became an example of sustainability in South America for finding an innovative way of using our waste and also providing new opportunities for inclusion for low-income people.
We just completed another house in the favelas, or slums, in São Paulo, Brazil. The house took a month to build — with the help of PepsiCo employees — and was given to a mother with ten children. See the pictures from the build, including our team and the family we helped. This is Performance with Purpose.
