11 DE enero / 2022
Our Sustainable Process
The fact that it is more important every day for us as global citizens to make individual and collective decisions regarding the environmental care, as well as it is a growing need that governments, leaders, and the civil society move toward the conservation of the non-renewable sources, drove us to act and do something about it.
For Manuelita, the social, and most of all, the environmental impact of our business matters, hence, it is crucial for us to create plans and strategies that help us be congruent with that ambition. We take proud of them, so we believe it is worth it to show you some of the most meaningful to us.
As we mentioned in the previous entry, back in 2017 we became the first sugar factory in Colombia to have been awarded with a certification that guarantees our processes to be operated under the highest standards on sustainability. In 2019, we became the first sugar factory in Colombia to certify cane suppliers with the Bonsucro approval for good practices.
Being vigilant over rivers and hydric resources is a crucial part of our endeavour, thus we take part in various associations that prompt the conservation of mid and high areas of hydrographic basins where we have influence over, and the preservation of the springs where the main rivers that supply us originate.
We belong to the Fondo agua por la vida y la sostenibilidad (Water for Sustainability and Life Fund), a social and environmental program that operates in the geographical valley of Cauca River and gathers private corporations, public institutions, and non-profit organizations that direct resources in order to boost actions aimed to protect and conserve the basins that feed Cauca River.
Currently, we are developing a program called Plan maestro de riegos (Watering Master Plan) that looks for the optimization of water consumption in watering activities, that in turn will reduce the waste of this hydric resource.
Not only do we take care of water and its numerable uses, but we are also concerned about the amount of polluting emissions expelled to the atmosphere. And that’s why we wanted to do something about it.
Back in 2006, Manuelita kickstarted the operation of a fuel alcohol plant that produces 250.000 L per day. In 2019 alone, we produced 68’430.080 litres of Bioethanol and-that as a replacement of a percentage of fuel in gasoline, it will reduce the greenhouse emissions in 33.256 tonnes (of CO2).
We could have stopped there, but there is so much more that we can do since we take advantage of every single piece of material we use, from the very beginning until the very end of it, no waste is left behind, everything is usable.
The biomass is the remnant coming from the entire sugar production process. Some might think it is the end of it, conversely, we use it for generating electric energy by combusting it. We have generated up to 142’978.218 KWh from this process. 92’663.218 KWh were used for self-powering our plant and 50’315.000 KWh were delivered to the national grid, supplying with electricity to 331.019 families per month.
And finally, to wrap this journey up, in early 2017 we initiated the industrial production and merchandising of soil organic improvers, made of renewable sources. They offer essential nutrients, organic matter, a very high capability of cationic interchange that helps the absorption of nutrients embedded in the soil, potentiate the fertilization and protection of cane, palm, rice, coffee, pineapple, plantain, avocado, and citric crops.
These are some of the initiatives we have created, promoted, and developed through time, trying to be coherent and knowledgeable regarding the environmental and social responsibility that our DNA holds.
All this paints a picture of how committed we are to all things environmentally friendly, including the process that leads us to produce our brand-new organic sugar, a premium product based on a conscious harvesting and a sustainable process. And this is our added value to it: the way we take care of, not only the product itself, but also every single detail that surrounds it.
This is what we are, this is what we pursue, this is Manuelita.
Manuelita, growing goodness.
