Dinant’s Palm Oil Operations Achieve Greater Sustainability
Honduran AgriBusiness Accelerates Reductions in Fossil Fuel, Water & Fertilizer Usage
Since 2012, Dinant’s use of homemade organic fertilizer has enabled it to eliminate 1M tons of chemical fertilizer
Dinant’s high-tech biogas recovery unit in Aguán, Northern Honduras, has now captured over 135M cubic meters of biogas since its establishment in 2008. This has enabled the Company to reduce its use of bunker fuels by nearly 11M gallons and diesel fuels by over 1M gallons over the same period. Dinant - a leading agribusiness and consumer packaged goods manufacturer (CPG) employing nearly 8,000 people in Central America - constantly looks for ways to reduce its use of fossil fuels, water, and chemical fertilizers. Roger Pineda Pinel, Dinant’s Director of Corporate Relations and Sustainability, commented, “The high-tech biogas recovery unit at Dinant’s oil extraction mill in the Aguán uses biomass from the waste of the palm fruit to produce clean energy that is returned to this predominantly self-sufficient facility and steam that is used to power the boilers. This has enabled Dinant to significantly reduce its reliance on fossil fuels”. Since 2016, Dinant’s biogas facility has generated over 95M KW of electricity, of which 11M KW have been injected into the National Grid. In addition, since 1999, Dinant’s Aguan extraction mill has generated over 76M KW of steam-generated electricity from the combustion of biomass left over from the palm oil extraction process, while the Company’s Lean extraction mill has generated over 129M KW of steam-generated electricity over the same period. Mr. Pineda continued, “Dinant has a strong track record in environmental protection and sustainability but we are constantly searching for ways to improve as our business expands.”- Since 2012, Dinant has used 6M cubic meters of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) – liquid waste from the palm oil extraction process – to produce organic compost that has replaced over 6.5M tons of chemical fertilizer. Over the same period, Dinant has produced over 130M tons of compost from Empty Fruit Bunches (EFBs) – the fibrous material left over after the extraction of palm oil – replacing a further 1M tons of chemical fertilizer.
- Dinant’s palm oil extraction mills and plantations in Honduras have been awarded two prestigious International Sustainability and Carbon Certifications – ISCC EU and ISCC Plus – for the sustainability of raw materials and products, supply chain traceability, and control of greenhouse gas emissions.
- Dinant invests heavily in planting high-yield varieties of palm that require less land. The Company also sells these varieties to independent producers at cost price.
- Dinant planted its palm plantations on existing agricultural land that had already been cleared by previous owners for such uses as cattle ranching and bananas. No crucial habitat has ever been destroyed or negatively impacted due to Dinant’s plantations. However, staff volunteers regularly participate in reforestation activities funded by the Company in Comayagua and San Pedro Sula.
- Wastewater treatment plants are returning clean water to the rivers at Dinant’s Comayagua and San Pedro Sula facilities, while atmospheric emissions controls ensure that all boilers in the Palm extraction mills and CPG manufacturing plants meet required environmental standards.
- Dinant protects many hundreds of hectares of tropical rainforest at two Wildlife Conservation Centers in Honduras, and manages breeding, rearing and release programs of endangered indigenous species, including jaguar, tapir, red macaw and green iguana.
- Since 2014, all of Dinant’s operations have been awarded ISO 14001 as a mark of their progress in environmental management.
