Nestlé’s first water management objective is to minimise the company’s own production of waste water. Between 2002 and 2006, our global processing facilities reduced by 37% the amount of waste water that we produce for every kilogram of food and beverage product we make.
Our company is also strongly committed to clean the waste water that our processing facilities produce before it is returned to the water systems of surrounding communities. We work in some of the most water stressed nations on earth and we understand the essential importance of returning water to nature in an environmentally acceptable condition.
Since 1932, when we built our first water treatment plant, Nestlé has acquired expertise in treating waste water from food manufacturing. Our work starts by taking steps to avoid water contamination during the manufacturing process and we have also built 160 water treatment plants – especially in developing countries where national and municipal waste water treatment infrastructure does not exist or does not meet the international environmental standards that Nestlé supports.
We have recently built waste water treatment plants in Ghana, Nigeria and Morocco. In Ghana, Nestlé’s waste water treatment facility is located in Tema, an artificial harbour and industrial zone that was built by the government of Ghana in the 1960s to enhance the country’s economic growth and facilitate global trade. An investigation by Nestlé revealed that the local government’s treatment plant was insufficient to process the industrial zone’s effluent and we undertook an environmental study to assess the additional treatment capacity required for our own custom-built plant.
Nestlé’s factory in Agbara, Nigeria has earned our company the “Most Environmentally Proactive Industry Award” from the governor of Agbara State and our water processing facility in El-Jadida, Morocco is showcased by the local government as a leading example of waste water treatment for other companies and operations in the region.