Pepsi Bottling Ventures LLC

Water Use Optimization

As the key ingredient in our products, using water responsibly is critical in our manufacturing process. Our highly sophisticated reverse osmosis (RO) water purification systems are designed to optimize purity and water conservation. Unused water from the RO systems and other manufacturing processes is recycled in secondary uses to maximize water conservation before being discharged. PBV continues to invest in advanced water purification systems and practices to minimize waste while maintaining the highest quality in our products.

Water line in PBV’s Winston-Salem production facility

Land Conservation Designed to Protect the Water Quality of the upstream region of the Neuse River

The PBV headquarters factory is located in Upper Neuse River region in central North Carolina. The Upper Neuse River region provides utility water and drinking water to over 300,000 residents and many local businesses and organizations. The population in the Upper Neuse River region is rapidly increasing, which makes it extremely important to the health, economy, and quality of life of the people that live there. Since 2005, our company has cooperated with forest preservation organizations, local government and land-owners through the Upper Neuse Clean Water Initiative to preserve the soil and protect the water quality of the river. We also engage in initiatives that remove foreign species and restore habitats.

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  Upstream region of the Neuse River

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  Members of the North Carolina Youth Conservation Corps,
  a summer program which is supported through PBV’s
  annual donation to the Conservation Trust of North Carolina

Adopting vehicles and a delivery system that contribute to energy conservation and CO₂ reduction

In 2011, PBV was the first Pepsi bottler in the U.S. to install an automated order picking system using CooLift pallets in combination with specialized lift gate trailers. The system reduces delivery time and improves ergonomics for delivery personnel. Delivery routes are dynamically routed daily to reduce travel time and fuel consumption. Hybrid and fuel-efficient vehicles continue to grow and now make up over 50% of our sales support fleet.

Hybrid sedan used by PBV’s sales team

Delivery trucks staged at distribution facility in St. Pauls, North Carolina

Reduce - Self-manufacturing PET Bottles

In 2012, PBV eliminated the practice of purchasing and transporting PET bottles and started manufacturing them at its North Carolina facilities. In 2020, PBV further expanded its manufacturing of PET packaging material by introducing injection molding of preforms – the process of turning plastic molding into a usable bottle. The combination of self-manufacturing PET bottles and preforms allows PBV to reduce the incoming truck deliveries of PET packaging materials by 30 to 1. Further, the self-manufacturing process allows PBV to reduce PET bottle weights on average by 20%. The new bottles incorporate 10% recycled plastic. PBV’s new manufacturing equipment is 20% more energy efficient than the old systems used before self-manufacturing.

(left) Self-manufacturing PET bottles at our facility in Garner, N.C. (right) Injection molding machine

Reuse & Recycle – Pallet Reusage & Plastic Cases

99% of our plastic and wood pallets are reused multiple times. Our plastic cases also lasts for years and eliminates corrugated board and wood from landfills. Damaged units are returned to our facilities and recycled into new cases and pallets. PBV also uses recyclable shrink film on other products to reduce secondary packaging.

Distribution crates stored in Garner, N.C.

Centralized Recycling Centers - Recycle

PBV manufacturing facilities act as centralized recycling centers. Corrugated board, stretch film, metal, and PET are collected and transported to these centralized facilities. Out-of-date product returned from customers is crushed and the recycled packaging is sold. Additionally, our fleet garages recycle old vehicles, waste oil, batteries, and tires. As a result, PBV achieved a recycle rate of 90% of its total waste in 2020.

PBV Recycling Path

Supporting Healthy Diets

As one of many initiatives aimed at improving the nutritional balance of beverages in our customers’ diets, PBV sells a variety of healthy drinks that contribute to the well-being of customers. Customers can also obtain information about the nutritional composition of our products from PepsiCo’s website:

PepsiCo beverage facts website

Creating a healthy and lively workplace

To maintain employees' health, our Safety and Wellness Department provides guidance on how to be a healthy workforce. All of our employees are encouraged to have annual physical examinations. We provide annual influenza vaccinations free of charge for employees and spouses. Annual Safety Day events occur at selected facilities, where we bring in local hospital and wellness professionals to instruct on such topics as proper hydration and heart health. Automated External Defibrillators have been installed at all facilities and training is provided to selected employees on Basic First Aid and CPR. "Fresh Fruit Friday" is held once a month in all facilities, to promote healthy breakfast and snack choices.

In addition, to ensure the overall organizational health, we conduct employee opinion surveys every other year. This allows the views of employees to be heard and creates a venue for discussions and changes to take place in our organization.

Fresh Fruit Friday at Pepsi Bottling Ventures

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  Biometric screening with employees

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  Marketing materials encouraging healthy lifestyles for PBV employees

Workplace safety is something PBV takes very seriously. In order to keep “Safety First,” we schedule Safety Day events at many of our facilities. Activities during a safety day range from instructor lead training (Highway Patrol) to hands-on exercises (fire extinguisher demonstrations, forklift rodeo, etc.). Conducting Safety Day events are a fun way to teach workers best practices for a productive and safe work environment.

Support for areas affected by natural disaster

PBV supplies bottled water to the victims of natural disasters and provides significant financial assistance to relief organizations such as the Red Cross.

Activities rooted in the local community

Specialty truck wrap promoting the PBV/Kay Yow Cancer Fund partnership

Quality Management

To maximize quality control efforts and provide safe & high-quality products, Pepsi Bottling Ventures (PBV) observes both the quality standards shared throughout PepsiCo and the standards unique to PBV. We have also implemented AIB International’s GMP Audit system for food safety^*1. Moreover, we have obtained the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) FSSC-22000 audit scheme^*2 certifications for food safety.

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  A food safety system that stresses Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), which are guidelines on practices that must be adopted in order to manufacture food that is safe.
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  Food Safety System Certification 22000 (FSSC-22000) - GFSI Audit Scheme that combines the ISO22000 standard and the ISO/TS22002 standard (formerly PAS-220) that specifies the requirements for prerequisite programs and food safety systems to assist in controlling food safety risks in food manufacturing processes.