Nestlé has opened its most water efficient factory anywhere in the world in Lagos de Moreno, in northeastern Jalisco.
The Swiss company says using mostly recycled water from its dairy operations, the “Zero-Water” (Cero Agua) plant will save enough H2O to meet the average daily consumption of 6,400 people, or fill an Olympic-size swimming pool.
The 1.6 million liters saved daily is equivalent to roughly 15 percent of the total water used by Nestlé in Mexico each year in its factories, operations and offices, notes a company press bulletin.
According to Nestlé, the Cero Agua dairy factory takes fresh cow’s milk – normally around 88 percent water – and heats it at low pressure to remove some of its water content. The resulting steam is then condensed and treated and used to clean the evaporating machines themselves. Once the machines have been flushed out, the water is then collected once more, purified and recycled a second time.
The water can then be reused for watering gardens or cleaning.
Reusing water from the milk in this way removes the need to extract groundwater for operations, the company says.
Speaking at the inauguration of the plant, Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval said such state-of-the-art investments not only provide vital employment opportunities to local families but spearhead sustainable economic development in the region.
In 2016, Nestlé will open a 400-million-dollar plant to produce baby formula in Ocotlan, Jalisco on the northern shore of Lake Chapala. The company says the new factory will provide 2,000 new direct and 10,000 indirect jobs, as well as supplement the incomes of some 600 regional dairy farmers.
Worldwide, Nestlé says it aims to further reduce its water withdrawal per ton of product by 40 recent by 2015, compared to 2005. Such water savings are part of Nestlé efforts to promote the “conservation, treatment, recycling and water efficiency in our operations and among farmers, suppliers and other partners in our supply chain,” said Marcelo Melchior, who heads Nestlé Mexico.