PLANO, Texas, Dec. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PepsiCo's Frito-Lay Casa Grande, Ariz., facility today became the nation's first food manufacturing site to be awarded LEED® Existing Building (EB) Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). LEED is the nation's preeminent program for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.

"Constructing a building from the ground up allows you to be more thoughtful about the sustainable choices you make, but it's extremely challenging to retrofit a 25-year-old building to make it more environmentally friendly," said Jason Gray, technical manager, Frito-Lay Casa Grande. "However, we think the investment to have our facility meet LEED EB Gold standards is an important part for our sustainability strategy and another step in our journey."

"In today's economic climate, organizations are reframing the definition of smart economic growth to include renovating and retrofitting existing structures to make them more energy efficient. Transforming this existing stock toward economic and environmental viability is imperative," said USGBC President, CEO and Founding Chairman Rick Fedrizzi. "PepsiCo's Frito-Lay manufacturing facility in Arizona should be celebrated for achieving LEED gold certification and demonstrating immense leadership in the green movement."

To achieve LEED EB Certification, the company's Casa Grande sustainability strategy included implementing a number of green design and construction features, water reduction technologies and practices, as well as improved waste management.

    Energy reduction: The Casa Grande facility has reduced its energy
                      consumption by nearly 20% since 2006 by installing a
                      heat recovery system that preheats cooking oil on the
                      production line, skylights to supplement lighting
                      systems in office areas and high efficiency ovens.

    Water reduction:  The Casa Grande facility has introduced water efficient
                      landscaping with native plants and water saving
                      technologies in the manufacturing line to decrease the
                      site's usage by 17% since 2006.

    Recycling:        The Frito-Lay Casa Grande site won Innovations Credits
                      from the USGBC for its Zero Landfill recycling program.
                      As of September 2009, more than 99% of the facility's
                      wastes were diverted from landfills. The site achieves
                      this milestone through many initiatives including a
                      stellar employee-led recycling program, reusing
                      cardboard shipping boxes multiple times, and allocating
                      waste product for use in animal feed.

Frito-Lay Casa Grande has been a part of the Pinal County community for 25 years. The nearly 188,000-square foot building sits on 202 acres of land. Frito-Lay Casa Grande's more than 300 associates make some of America's favorite snacks including Lay's potato chips, Fritos corn chips, Tostitos tortilla chips, Doritos tortilla chips, and Cheetos cheese-flavored snacks.

Frito-Lay Casa Grande continues to invest in leading edge technologies that will eventually reduce water and electricity consumption by 90%, natural gas use by 80%, and dramatically lower overall greenhouse gas emissions from the manufacturing facility once the installation process is completed in 2010.

U.S. Green Building Council

The Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Green Building Council is committed to a prosperous and sustainable future for our nation through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings.

With a community comprising 78 local affiliates, more than 20,000 member companies and organizations, and more than 100,000 LEED Accredited Professionals, USGBC is the driving force of an industry that is projected to soar to $60 billion by 2010. The USGBC leads an unlikely diverse constituency of builders and environmentalists, corporations and nonprofit organizations, elected officials and concerned citizens, and teachers and students.

Buildings in the United States are responsible for 39% of CO2 emissions, 40% of energy consumption, 13% water consumption and 15% of GDP per year, making green building a source of significant economic and environmental opportunity. Greater building efficiency can meet 85% of future U.S. demand for energy, and a national commitment to green building has the potential to generate 2.5 million American jobs.

LEED

The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED green building certification system is the foremost program for the design, construction and operation of green buildings. The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED rating system is the preeminent program for the design, construction and operation of green buildings. 35,000 projects are currently participating in the LEED system, comprising over 5.6 billion square feet of construction space in all 50 states and 91 countries.

By using less energy, LEED-certified buildings save money for families, businesses and taxpayers; reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and contribute to a healthier environment for residents, workers and the larger community.

USGBC was co-founded by current President and CEO Rick Fedrizzi, who spent 25 years as a Fortune 500 executive. Under his 15-year leadership, the organization has become the preeminent green building, membership, policy, standards, influential, education and research organization in the nation. For more information, visit www.usgbc.org

Frito-Lay North America

Frito-Lay North America is the $12 billion convenient foods business unit of PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), which is headquartered in Purchase, NY. In addition to Frito-Lay, PepsiCo business units include Pepsi-Cola, Quaker Foods, Gatorade and Tropicana. Learn more about Frito-Lay at the corporate Web site, http://www.fritolay.com/ , the Snack Chat blog, http://www.snacks.com/ and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/fritolay.

PepsiCo offers the world's largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands, including 18 different product lines that each generate more than $1 billion in annual retail sales. Our main businesses - Frito-Lay, Quaker, Pepsi-Cola, Tropicana and Gatorade - also make hundreds of other nourishing, tasty foods and drinks that bring joy to our consumers in over 200 countries. With more than $43 billion in 2008 revenues, PepsiCo employs 198,000 people who are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth, called Performance with Purpose. By dedicating ourselves to offering a broad array of choices for healthy, convenient and fun nourishment, reducing our environmental impact, and fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace culture, PepsiCo balances strong financial returns with giving back to our communities worldwide. For more information, please visit http://www.pepsico.com.

SOURCE: Frito-Lay

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