Lay's made chips water-positive by reclaiming the steam from frying

Frying chips is water-hungry, and in India water stress made the process a business risk as well as an environmental one. Lay's found its answer inside the potato itself: about 80% of the water naturally in potatoes evaporates during frying and is typically wasted.

The company built a process to reclaim that vapor, condense and purify it, and reuse it as manufacturing water — "the potato uses its own water to create water." The approach supports water positivity at its plants in West Bengal (Kolkata) and Uttar Pradesh (Kosi).

On World Environment Day 2024, Lay's launched the animated film "Drops of Joy" — "potatoes are the true superheroes" — turning an engineering fix into a brand story. It was shortlisted at Cannes Lions 2024 for Responsible Consumption and Production and again in Environmental Innovation at Spikes Asia 2025.

The potato already carries the water; reclaim it

It turns a wasted process byproduct into the input the process needs, cutting water use at the source.

The engineering is the campaign: a real, measurable practice instead of a green claim.

It aligns with PepsiCo's pledge to become net water positive by 2030.

When an input is scarce, look inside your process for the resource you are already throwing away — the byproduct can become the supply.

PepsiCo India continues to frame Drops of Joy within its pep+ sustainability agenda and its net-water-positive-by-2030 commitment; the campaign earned shortlists at Cannes Lions 2024 and Spikes Asia 2025.