Nestlé says saves water by implementing drip irrigation, smart soil moisture sensors

KARACHI: Nestlé Pakistan is transforming ways the use water of in its production and has also initiated many projects to save the water being used in agriculture sector; resultantly it has saved 482,556 m3 water during 2022 by implementing drip irrigation and installing smart soil moisture sensors in the different parts of the country.

“Organisations involved in manufacturing are now transforming ways in which they use water in their production, and many in Pakistan such as Nestlé are now at the forefront of this transformation,” said Sheikh Waqar Ahmad, Head of Corporate Affairs & Sustainability, Nestlé Pakistan.

Talking to a group of journalists during the recent visit of Sheikhupura factory, he informed that in order to preserve water resources, Nestlé Pakistan two years ago launched Nestlé Waters Pledge - a new waters business specific commitment. Under this, Nestlé is committed to regenerating the water used by Nestle’s waters business and have a net positive impact by 2025.

“The Nestlé Waters Pledge is a reinforcement of existing water stewardship efforts under our flagship Caring for Water-Pakistan (C4W-Pakistan) initiative, launched in 2017,” he said.

He further informed that all the initiatives had helped regenerate equivalent to 58 percent of the water volume used by the waters business in 2022.

Pakistan has one of the largest contiguous irrigation systems in the world where more than 93 percent water is used in agriculture. However, more than 60 percent of the water is lost during conveyance and during application in the fields mainly due to the poor maintenance of the irrigation system and conventional irrigation methods.

Waqar said that small saving in the agriculture sector would transform into huge water saving, but that alone isn’t enough.

Organisations involved in manufacturing are now transforming ways in which they use water in their production, and many in Pakistan such as Nestlé are now at the forefront of this transformation, he added.

Preserving water resources is now part of Nestlé Pakistan legacy and water is a major focus of sustainability efforts for a decade, he added.

Waqar said that through C4W-Pakistan, Nestlé encourage collective action and bring different partners together to discuss and find solutions for the existing water challenges faced by the country.

He said that Nestlé has undertaken several activities under the three over-arching pillars for C4W-Pakistan: factories, communities, and agriculture.

He further said that for a food and beverage company, water is essential for all areas of business and it is also used by farmers to grow crops that we use to make the foods we produce. Being a responsible company, Nestlé decided to play a vital role to enhance the water use efficiency

Presently, all Nestlé factories have been awarded Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) certification, which is an international standard for freshwater resources that guides organizations to manage water by taking site and catchment relevant initiatives through stakeholder inclusive processes.

“Nestlé Pakistan’s Sheikhupura factory became the first site in Pakistan and the first Nestlé site worldwide to be awarded the AWS Certification in 2017. Following suit, our factories in Islamabad, Kabirwala, and Karachi were certified in 2018, 2019, and 2020 respectively,” he informed.

Under the efforts to improve in hour efficiencies by recycling and reusing water has allowed us to save more than 92,000 m3 of water in 2022 across manufacturing units. In addition, the wastewater resulting from industrial processes is treated, and only treated water that meets the standards set by the environment authorities, is discharged, he mentioned.

According to Waqar, Nestlé also decided to undertake the WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) Pledge, by implementing access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene at the workplace. Now all of Nestlé’s four factories and other sites are meeting the WASH Pledge requirements, covering more than 3,000 employees.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023