Apizaco, Mexico, March 12, 2015 – Mexico´s Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Medio Ambiente – PROFEPA) bestowed on Coca-Cola FEMSA’s Apizaco Plant, located in the state of Tlaxcala, the Clean Industry Certification for Environmental Performance level 2 (NDA2, for its acronym in Spanish) for complying with the highest environmental protection standards.
After the plant volunteered undergoing auditing and proved its compliance with the technical, environmental, and legal requirements set in the auditing protocol, the authorities of PROFEPA conferred the NDA2 certification to the plant. This accreditation is the governing norm that certifies that companies meet the environmental regulations with efficiency while improving the efficiency of their manufacturing processes.
“Coca Cola FEMSA’s commitment to meeting both the Mexican legislation and world-class standards is part of its business strategy. A solid environmental management frames this strategy, integrating principles that govern leadership, efficient use of resources, investment in technology, recycling and reuse mechanisms, performance indicators, and achievement of aggressive goals that ensure that our actions are congruent with our philosophy of generating social and environmental value in every region where we operate. We are proud that our bottling plant in Apizaco is the Coca-Cola FEMSA’s pioneering work center and now the aspirational reference for environmental issues in Coca-Cola FEMSA due to obtaining the Certification as Clean Industry with Environmental Performance Level 2,” said Armando Leyva Mondragon, Director of Corporate Affairs in Mexico.
PROFEPA certification’s main characteristic is that companies aspiring to receive the accreditation willingly submit to an audit performed by a third party, which certifies the fulfillment of the diverse requirements and parameters set for any of the two Environmental Performance Levels, NDA1 or NDA2.
The certification levels established in the norm NMX-AA-162-SCFI-2012 have two definition criteria; Level NDA1 focuses on compliance to environmental issues while Level NDA2 addresses compliance to results, maximized by a culture of continuous improvement and by a world-class administration.
Among the initiatives that Coca-Cola FEMSA submitted as best operational practices are the treatment of waste water with parameters optimized according to the title and conditions established by Mexico’s National Water Commission (CONAGUA, for its acronym in Spanish), the use of state-of-the-art technology in the reutilization of Biogas for generating steam in the manufacturing of water in returnable packaging – thus decreasing diesel consumption by 80% in its production. In addition to recycling all hazardous, non-hazardous, and ordinary waste, which places the plant in the Zero Waste category.
Currently, Coca-Cola FEMSA’s Apizaco Plant generates 900 direct and 4,500+ indirect jobs for the state of Tlaxcala. It has also performed actions benefitting the community such as the annual street paving and maintenance of Apizaquito Avenue, the installation of a pumping system at El Ojillo Lagoon, in addition to carrying out reforestation efforts that have supplied close to 1.7 million new trees throughout Tlaxcala.
Coca-Cola FEMSA finds important to continue its goal of transforming positively the communities where it operates with initiatives and programs that promote healthy lifestyles while implementing initiatives that favor social responsibility and environmental care.
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About Coca-Cola FEMSA
Coca-Cola FEMSA, S.A.B. de C.V. manufactures and distributes Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite, Del Valle, and other products of The Coca-Cola Company brands in Mexico (Major portions of Central Mexico, including Mexico City, and South and Northeast Mexico,) Guatemala (Greater Guatemala City,) Nicaragua (the entire country,) Costa Rica (the entire country,) Panama (the entire country,) Colombia (most of the country,) Venezuela (the entire country,) Brazil (Sao Paulo, Campinas, Santos, the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, the state of Parana, part of the state of Goias, part of the state of Rio de Janeiro, and part of the state of Minas Gerais,) Argentina (Greater Buenos Aires,) and The Philippines (the entire country,) in addition to bottled water, juice, tea, isotonic beverages, beer, and other beverages in some of these territories. The Company has 64 bottling plants and serves more than 346 million consumers through 2,900,000 retailers with over 120,000 employees throughout the world.