- 15 Staff members received certificates for successfully completing training in Cleaner production and resource efficiency
- Pepsi only company in Africa to receive the bronze medal in the global awards held in Vienna
Pepsi cola- the flagship brand of Crown Beverages Limited, a leading soda manufacturing company, has received a bronze award from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) for their outstanding performance in the 2014 Global Chemical leasing Awards. Crown Beverages Limited was the only African company recognised from 38 companies across the globe that participated in the Programme.
The award comes after a 5-year training partnership with UCPC in line with the company’s objective of continuous improvement.
While handing over the award to the Crown Beverages Limited’s Head of Operations, Mr Paddy Muramiirah, at the Crown Beverages Limited Head Office, Ms Petra Schwager, the Global co-ordinator of Chemical Leasing, UNIDO, commended Pepsi for embracing new technology and systems that will go a long way in safeguarding the environment.
“One of the things we aim to do is to have plants across not just the continent but across the globe to reduce the use of chemicals and redirect companies to pick more interest and focus on purchasing the function of the chemical and this is very possible. So far in Uganda, there are few centres that have been successful with the one at Pepsi being our most successful centre. You are doing a great job as a team and I only urge you to continue on this path,” Ms Shwager said.
According to John Kayenje, the champion of the cleaner production programme at Crown Beverages Limited, this award means a lot for the company in terms of resource utilization and cost efficiency.
“Since we took on the training and partnership with UCPC, we have made some modifications in our processes. For instance, we now outsource forklifts which we realized is a cheaper approach than us having to import our own. We’re also more mindful of the environment today than we were five years back as we adopt the use of gas instead of diesel forklifts and this coupled with other adjustments we’ve made has saved us over Shs 5.2 billion in one year and water reduction also reduced by approximately 16%,” Mr Kayenje said.
Pepsi, a brand that boasts a long and rich history in Uganda since 1951, has also in the recent past won a number of awards at International, Regional and National levels including but not limited to: the winner of the Water Use Management in 2013 National RECP Awards; 1st Runner Up in Energy use management in the same awards; 1st Runner Up overall in the same RECP awards; 2nd Runner up in Water and Energy use Management in the 2014 East African Regional RECP Awards; and 1st Runner up overall in the same Regional RECP Awards.
