Concha y Toro hits 100% recycling target

Chilean wine giant Concha y Toro has announced it has hit its target of recycling and reusing 100% of its organic industrial waste.

The company produces 50,000 tons of solid waste a year and managing to recycle all of it is the equivalent of the entire population of Chile recycling and reusing 100% of their waste for three days.

Of the waste produced, the greater part is from the grapes and winemaking process (pomace, stalks and sediment) and other waste is from cardboard, glass and plastic etc.

Of the organic waste, 62% is recycled for tartaric acid and 38% for compost. In addition to the solid waste, the company also uses around 1 million cubic metres of water a year and likewise has managed a 100% recycle rate with clean water to either the soil or local water sources such as the Maipo River.

Valentina Lira, deputy manager of Sustainable Development, commented: “Thanks to our 13 treatment systems that the vineyard has, among them five biological plants, we use all of the availability of water that we have. All this generates a very positive effect in the Valle Central, given that water is a vital resource in that area, as is the case of Pirque, where we return clean water to the riverbed of the Maipo River.”

The company is now aiming to recycle all of the ‘household and domestic’ waste produced each year at its various wineries so that it can truly claim to reuse and recycle the entirety of its waste products.

Lira continued: “Although in terms of impact it is the least significant, since it only represents 3% of the total waste of the company, it is what helps to generate the so-called Culture of Recycling and what we lack to achieve 100% recycling of the waste generated by the company. Therefore, this challenge confronts us with a cultural change and joint work with each of our workers.

“That 3% that we need to reach 100% recycling of total waste, are like the last 50 metres to reach the top of Everest. We know that the last metres are always the most difficult, but the importance of creating this corporate culture of recycling and to fulfil the goal that we proposed ourselves, to be in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations: to be a company with zero residues by 2020.”