Eco-flavored chips: Zero trans fat, zero carbon footprint

Eco-flavored chips: Zero trans fat, zero carbon footprint

Revolutionary companies think outside the box. Frito-Lay has begun to think outside the bag.

Its desert-based chip factory in Casa Grande, Ariz., has embarked on an ambitious three-phase plan to ultimately operate solely on renewable energy and recycled water. Called the “net-zero initiative,” the plan will incorporate waste heat collection, methane digesters and parabolic solar concentrators in hopes of cutting the plant’s greenhouse gas emissions by up to 75 percent by 2010 and reducing its dependence on water, electricity and gas suppliers.

The initial phase will conserve the massive quantities of water used to wash 500,000 pounds of potatoes daily. A filter system will strain and clean the wash water for reuse. Engineering feasibility studies have already begun on this phase, said corporate spokesperson Aurora Gonzalez.

Solar concentrators capturing the region’s intense solar power will heat the water in the second phase to power a steam generator. Then plans call for a biomass generator that would use landfill gas, methane, wood or residual debris to eventually power the boiler system.

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