Nestle to inaugurate Water Plant to mark Environmental Day

By Linda Asante-Agyei, GNA
Accra, June 5, GNA - Nestlé Ghana, would on Monday, inaugurate a CHF 3.5 million Waste Water Treatment Plant as part of Ghana's activities to mark this year's World Environment Day.

The Waste Water Treatment Plant situated close to the Nestle Factory in Tema, is supposed to significantly improve the treatment quality of the waste water to ensure water and environmental sustainability at the Tema Factory.

The event, being organised in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation would have President, John Dramani Mahama inaugurating the plant.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, Mrs Freda Duplan, Country Director of Nestle Ghana, said environmental sustainability to Nestle, 'means protecting the future by making the right choices, in a world where natural resources are constrained, biodiversity is declining, and where climate change may exacerbate these challenges'.

She explained that in 2012, the company invested more than CHF 2 Million in the new Waste Water Treatment Plant, which significantly improved the treatment quality of the waste water at the factory.

'We have further invested CHF 1.5 million in an Ultra Filtration-Reverse Osmosis system at our Tema factory to improve the quality of waste water, which helps us to reuse 30 per cent of Waste Water Treatment Plant effluent for non-core activities, thereby reducing the total factory water consumption by 10 per cent', she added.

The Tema factory, she said has significantly reduced its water usage from 5.64 cubic meters per ton of product in 2010 to 3.79 cubic meters per ton of product as of April 2014.

Mrs Duplan said Nestle Ghana would continue to actively manage its commitments to environmental and social sustainability, necessary for operating its factories and for the sustainable growth and development of the communities and countries they operate in.

'We have always believed that in order to prosper we need the communities we serve and in which we operate to prosper as well, and that over the long term, healthy populations, healthy economies and healthy business performance are mutually reinforcing', she said.

World Environment Day is celebrated every June 5, and is a day that stimulates awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and public action.

Set aside by the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, the Day is hosted every year by a different city with a different theme and is commemorated with an international exposition.

GNA