Swiss food giant Nestlé has opened a new Nescafé coffee factory in Veracruz, Mexico, with an investment of $340 million (£283m).
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador attended the opening event of the plant, which creates 1,200 new jobs in the region and makes Mexico Nestlé's main coffee producer globally.
"With the inauguration of this plant, Nestlé is supporting close to 100,000 coffee producers in Mexico. This demonstrates the importance of the public and private sectors working together to bring investment to our country," López Obrador commented.
The new factory leverages state-of-the-art equipment and green energies to reduce water and energy consumption. It uses wastewater treatment systems to ensure 100 per cent of water recirculation, zero wastewater discharges and zero waste to landfills. The plant consumes 100 per cent green electricity and is equipped with a biomass boiler that will use the biological waste from the coffee process to generate energy.
"The coffee factory is one of the most technologically advanced in the world and our company's most modern and sustainable coffee plant," said Fausto Costa, executive president of Nestlé Mexico. "At Nestlé, sustainability is a fundamental pillar of our purpose, and we are committed to taking actions that have a positive impact on our planet."
The Nescafé supply chain comprises 80,000 Mexican coffee growers, and Nestlé has pledged to ensure that by 2025, 100 per cent of the coffee it purchases is responsibly sourced.
