Environmental Management System Planning

Cleaner production assessment

During the 20-21 harvest we conducted a cleaner production assessment of our operations in Nicaragua (coffee exports, nurseries, and Robusta coffee farm management) with the objectives of: baseline for our operations in the performance of our System.

This enabled us to establish a cleaner production baseline Nicaragua against which we can continuously measure the Environmental Management System.

Analyzing material, water, and energy consumption and waste generation in the production process.

Identifying and evaluating the significant environmental aspects and impacts of each facility.

Evaluating cleaner production and environmental management alternatives. Redefining environmental indicators.

Similarly, we defined our priorities in terms of essential business aspects that, based on the defined scope, have a downward impact on our carbon footprint and, in turn, help us to achieve our goal.

As Mercon Group, our goal is to reduce our carbon footprint by 20% over the next 5 years.

Water

Define projects to recover discharge water. Continue improving water quality through the installation of disinfection systems, where necessary.

Waste management Waste

Implement a 3R program (reduce, reuse, recycle).

0.043

(kg / QQ OB)

Energy and emissions

Expand the use of renewable energy.

Continue with the energy savings plan.

Eco-efficiency during the 20-21 crop

Given that the responsible use of natural resources is a high priority for Mercon, our commitment did not just begin with this crop but, rather, extends over years of dedicated focus on implementing initiatives that maximize our eco-efficiency.

Our achievements this year are reflected in:

Energy efficiency

Maximizing the use of renewable energy by:

Installing 1,080 solar modules at San Carlos mill in Nicaragua—the Group’s largest mill—which has contributed 6% of renewable energy to our energy matrix.

Producing 6,698 tons of biomass by reusing coffee husks—a significant byproduct of our operations—thereby eliminating the need to consume 4,638 m3 of diesel.

Water conservation

Our focus is on the operations and processes that consume the most water.

Nursery management: Given that this operation represents 52% of all water consumption, we implemented a pilot project using germination trays, which led to a 40% reduction in water consumption. Based on these extraordinary results, we plan to expand this initiative during the next cycle.

Efficient “honey water” management: Over the past several years, we have been working to adequately manage the wastewater, or “honey water”, resulting from our wet mill in Nicaragua. By establishing a honey water treatment system based on anaerobic reactors, we are able to produce biogas. This, in turn, allows for greater efficiency of the system and prevents the release of methane into the environment, a gas that is 21 times more likely to cause global warming as compared to carbon dioxide.

Waste management

To properly manage the waste and byproducts derived from our operations, reusing and recycling are key elements of our efforts.

Reuse:

100% of coffee husks to generate heat in the mechanical drying process and as an insulating and absorption layer for sun drying.

74% of coffee bags and 66% of boxes to transport plants, thereby reducing the demand for raw materials, especially those derived from petroleum.

Recycle:

100% of the agrochemical and fertilizer containers used in our nursery and farm operations, equal to more than 3,600 kg of plastic. Once used, they are triple washed and stored safely for delivery to the Clean Field program in alliance with the Nicaraguan Association of Formulators and Distributors of Agrichemicals (ANIFODA), which then transports them to recycling plants.

100% of scrap metal is sold thanks to our waste management program, thereby preventing disposal in municipal landfills.