Nestlé S.A., Mexico

What is it?

A multinational food and beverage company.

What has it done?

Justifying a social licence to operate can be a daunting task, even for a household name like Nestlé. Recognising the importance of natural groundwater resources to the local population in Mexico’s Jalisco State, the company transformed its Lagos de Moreno dairy factory into a water-free manufacturing site. The “Cero Agua” initiative allowed the milk powder manufacturing facility to become virtually independent from local groundwater, and will reduce Nestlé’s water consumption in Mexico by 15%.

What makes it special?

Fresh cows’ milk contains around 88% water. Nestlé’s inspired solution to address local water scarcity is to extract and treat the water embedded in the milk for use as process water within the factory, using a series of advanced treatment technologies. The resulting effluent is then treated again for non-potable use, achieving genuine self-sufficiency by closing the loop.

Prior to this installation, the factory consumed almost two litres of groundwater for every litre of milk processed. The “Cero Agua” initiative has decreased Nestlé’s dependency on groundwater to zero during normal operations, resulting in approximately 1 million m3 of water savings every year – enough to meet the average daily consumption of 6,400 Mexicans.

Following the success of the Jalisco initiative, Nestlé now plans to retrofit a number of its other dairy factories situated in water-stressed areas including South Africa, Pakistan, India and China, blazing a trail for the rest of the beverage industry to follow.