This year, Viña Concha y Toro reached a great goal in terms of sustainability, achieving the reuse, management and recycling of 100% of its main pre-consumer industrial waste, such as those that come from organic solid products. Of these, 62% is recycled for tartaric acid and the remaining 38% is reutilized for compost.

“100% of our organic waste is completely managed and with a very noble use, because we are giving back to the Earth what it gave us initially,” says Valentina Lira, Sustainability Manager of Viña Concha y Toro.

There is 50 thousand tons of organic waste per year that are being reused completely. This figure is equivalent to the recycling and reuse of 100% of the waste generated by the population of Chile for three days.

In addition to industrial waste, the vineyard has taken action to sustainably manage 1 million m3 of water that are used annually in the wine production process, achieving a clean and 100% reintegration of soils or water cycles.

These numbers are the result of the company’s ongoing effort regarding sustainability and innovation within the industry, being the Chilean company with the greatest vertical integration in the area and a pioneer in achieving this ambitious goal: “In the end, we work on sustainability from the earth to the glass “, Lira summarizes.

The cycle of reuse

During the different production stages, various types of waste are generated: 85% of them are organic and come from wine marc, stalk and sediment, which are generated mainly during the harvest. The rest of the waste corresponds to composting (7%), domiciliary (3%) and glass, cardboard and plastic (5%).

The residues of wine marc and stalk reach 43,000 tons per year. Of these, 25,000 are recycled through a sale to third parties, while the remaining 18,000 are reused in fields of the vineyard through solarization. On the other hand, the waste generated from the sediments reaches 5,000 tons per year and is 100% recycled through third party sales.

Current challenge: Corporate Culture of Recycling

Today, the main challenge is to manage 100% of household waste, which is generated mainly in offices, casinos and administrative areas of plants, warehouses and fields. “Although, in terms of impact, it is the least significant, given that it only represents 3% of the total waste of the company, it is what helps to generate a culture of recycling. Therefore, this challenge confronts us with a cultural change and it requires the collaboration of all our workers”, Lira adds.

To achieve this goal, the company launched an internal campaign focused on the “Three Rs”: Reuse, Recycle and Reduce on World Recycling Day. This project aims to reach the last stretch that remains to achieve 100% of waste recycling, according to the commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations: Be a zero waste company by 2020.