WASHINGTON, DC, and VEVEY, SWITZERLAND, May 18, 2015 -- Nestlé, a multinational food and beverage company, has announced that it is investing in innovative technology to help reduce the amount of water it uses at its five water bottling plants and four facilities in the state of California where food or pet-care products are manufactured.
Accordingly, work is currently underway to transform the Nestlé USA milk factory in the city of Modesto into a 'zero water' factory, meaning the plant will not use any local freshwater resources for its operations.
The project is expected to save nearly 63 million gallons (238,000 cubic meters) of water each year, equivalent to 71 percent of absolute withdrawals in 2014. Around $7 million has been invested in the project, which is due to be completed by the end of 2016.
Nestlé has also realized savings of over 26 million gallons (100,000 cubic meters) of water each year at its factories in Bakersfield and Tulare, potentially reducing the plants' annual withdrawals by 12 percent compared to 2014 levels.
Likewise, the company's planned investments for conservation measures at its bottling plants in California plants are projected to save 55 million gallons of water (208,000 cubic meters) per year, a reduction of nearly 8 percent compared to 2014 levels.
Last year in Mexico, Nestlé opened its first 'zero water' plant, which extracts all the water it needs from milk used to manufacture dairy products. Further measures to reduce potential water wastage at these plants are under consideration, and as these are identified, there will be further updates.
See also:
"H2O Risk: Business [not] as Usual"
"Nestle Waters CEO: Bottled water industry is getting a bad rap"
About Nestlé USA
Nestlé in the U.S. consists of seven main businesses: Nestlé USA, Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, Nestlé Waters North America, Nestlé Nutrition, Nestlé Professional, Nespresso and Nestlé Health Science. Together, these companies operate in more than 120 locations in 47 states and employ over 51,000 people. The United States is Nestlé S.A.'s largest market with combined product sales in the United States totaling more than $26 billion in 2014. For more information, visit www.nestleusa.com.
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