Work
to create sustainable value
For A Thriving Planet
We have a higher obligation to future generations to leave them a thriving planet, a planet on which life continues to be a daily miracle that lights our path, a planet on which our existence doesn’t threaten the future. A planet that is diverse, rich, colorful and amazing.
For more than 25 years we have worked on the urgent task of reducing our emissions, dealing with the effects of climate change, making efficient use of energy, maximizing the use of available resource, minimizing our impact, and promoting a circular economy developing the art of reducing, re-using, repairing, renovating and recycling.
Waste
Management
At Buencafé for 25 years we’ve been using coffee bean husks as biomass to generate sustainable energy. Thanks to its caloric content, combined with other biomass material that coffee production generates, we have an alternative fuel and can reduce the consumption of fossil fuels. Approximately 97% of production waste and spent coffee grounds are being used as fuel.
This has allowed us to reduce the use of natural gas for the generation of water vapor by 36% and reduce CO2 emissions by 6,741 tons per year.
To achieve these reductions, Buencafé has had to make important investments like the acquisition of biomass ovens. The latest is a 2019 model.
Additionally, from the point of view of solid wastes, 35.8 tons/month of production wastes at Buencafé are delivered to recyclers.
100%
One hundred percent of packaging material Buencafé sells in Colombia will be guaranteed responsible use by 2026.
97%
Waste from the production process at Buencafé is used as fuel.
36%
This has allowed us to reduce the use of natural has for steam generation by 36% and reduce CO2 emissions by 6,741 tons per year
35.8 tons/mes
Waste from the production process at Buencafé is delivered to manager for recycling
Greenhouse Gas
Measurement Protocol
We use the Greenhouse Gas Measurement Protocol and ISO standards to measure our emissions at the plant and those associated with the product
25 years
Since more than 25 years at Buencafé we have been working on initiatives that have allowed us to manage the energy basket
Energy sources
Currently our energy sources are: fossil fuels (59%), biomass (25%) and electricity (16%).
Renewable energy: 36%
Our energy basket is made up as follows: renewable energy: 36% and non-renewable: 64%
We reduced the use of natural gas by 36%
With biomass boilers, we reduced the use of natural gas for steam generation by 36% vs 2016, equivalent to 6,741 CO2eq/year
Energy Efficiency and
Reducing Our Carbon
Footprint
Buencafé has always had an interest in taking care of the planet in general and in de-carbonization in particular. Greenhouse gasses affect sustainability on the planet. Taking into account that our raw material is coffee, that it’s an agricultural product that’s sensitive to the effects of climate change, our worry and care for the environment prompted us to work on an energy transition plan more than two decades ago: We must strictly and efficiently use only those fuels required for the industry to prosper. We have to focus on revising our transition to alternative and renewable energies, like using biomass and solar energy.
Greenhouse gasses affect the climate and because of that the planet’s sustainability. Emissions in Colombia equate to 0.5% of all the emissions on the planet. The main contribution of the country is focusing on the preservation of the forests that can be promoted to big industry as a means of compensating for their emissions, by sponsoring the preservation of forests and promoting reforestation campaigns.
At Buencafé for the last decade we’ve relied on energy efficiency indicators and greenhouse gas emissions of our facility, and we’ve worked on initiatives that have allowed us to manage our energy profile. Currently our energy sources are: fossil fuels – 59%; biomass – 25%; and electricity – 16%. Our energy profile is: renewable energy – 36% and non-renewable – 64%. We maintain focus on the reduction of greenhouse gasses and on the use of processing coffee husks and spent coffee grounds as fuel.
Two of the initiatives that illustrate this effort are the operation of biomass ovens that allow the use of fossil fuels to be reduced, and the acquisition of technology for more efficient operations. In particular, an evaporative condenser for our refrigeration systems lets the machines work less and thereby improves the efficiency of the generation of cold environments. Thanks to these we are more efficient in the use of energy and in reducing CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
With the biomass ovens, for example, we have reduced the use of natural gas for the generation of water vapor by 36% vs. 2016, the equivalent of 6,741tCO2eq/year.
Water
Management
At Buencafé we take advantage of rainwater in industrial services and we look for the possibility of recovering process water for the same purpose.
In 2021 we recovered 17,687 m3 of rainwater for industrial services.
Similarly, thanks to technological improvements, savings of 100 m3/day of water have been made.
In 2021 we recovered 17,687 m3 of rainwater for industrial services.
22.9 kgCO2eq per day
We achieved like this , decrease for the 2021, more than 22.9 kg CO2eq per day.
653 kgCO2eq per day
An evaporative condenser that we installed in 2021 in our plant 5 refrigeration system and that allowed us to reduce 653 kgCO2eq daily.
Technology for
Environmental Protection
On the path we’ve taken at Buencafé for the reduction of emissions and de-carbonization, following the variables and indicators has been key. Because of this, through steady analysis of the available technologies, we’ve found a platform that allows us to manage this data. For example: we proposed improving the natural gas consumption indicator for water vapor generation. We measured the efficiency of our ovens in real time on the platform and generated a digital twin with which we run simulations and follow operational adjustments. In this way, in 2021 we achieved a reduction of more than 22.9 kgCO2eq per day.
Additionally, we’re always looking for and investing in the latest technologies that allow us to make important reductions in greenhouse gasses. The most recent acquisition has been an evaporative condenser that was installed in plant five’s refrigeration system in 2021 and allowed us to reduce our daily CO2 output by 653eq.
Sustainable Packaging
Recovering the equivalent of packaging material placed into the Colombian market.
Through Resolution 1407 of 2018 dubbed REP (Extended Producer Responsibility), businesses must participate in a mechanism that guarantees appropriate use of quantities of packaging materials that are put into the Colombian market.
The regulation requires recovering 10% of the materials. For Buencafé that equates to 91.5 tons (10% of the 915 that has been put into the market, primarily glass). Buencafé joined the Repack collective, which is a group of businesses that generate wastes, as well as collection and recycling companies that guarantee the appropriate use of materials.
By September 2021, Buencafé had achieved the year’s objective of 13.7%, the equivalent of 123 tons and by the end of the year reached 184 tons. Buencafé goal for 2026 is the recovery of the equivalent of 100%.
