SARIA: dedicated to water

On the occasion of World Water Day on March 22, SARIA is drawing attention to its collective efforts to conserve water resources.

Since two-thirds of the animal raw materials that most SARIA business units deal with on a daily basis consist of water, SARIA is in the unique position of not only consuming water but also generating it itself. In 2023, the group produced a total of 2,132,000 m³ of water. This is equivalent to more than 10 million full bathtubs. This water is extracted from the raw material by evaporation during the production process and treated for further use.

For example, at the SecAnim production sites in France and Spain, 60% of water consumption in 2022 was already covered by reused water extracted from the collected animal raw material. At the SecAnim plants in Térmens and Segovia (Spain), wastewater undergoes a four-stage recycling process. The water is first physically cleaned by chemical treatment, before the water quality is improved by biological treatment, an extremely thorough filtration process and subsequent osmosis to a level of purity that allows the water to be returned to the natural water cycle. In 2022, SecAnim reprocessed almost 200 million liters in France and Spain. In Spain, the amount of purified water discharged now even exceeds the amount of water withdrawn at a ratio of 2:1.

Since a large amount of drinking water is needed in food production, the possibilities for water recycling in this segment are rather limited for the SARIA business units. Nevertheless, ambitious sustainability targets are also being pursued in this segment. Devro, the specialist in collagen-based sausage casings and coatings, has set itself the goal of reducing its own freshwater consumption by 20% by 2025 and 50% by 2050, taking 2020 as the baseline year. Bioiberica, which focuses on the production of biological active ingredients and substances for humans, animals and plants, has reused around 21% of its own wastewater since 2006 and is working towards increasing this share to as much as 50% in the coming years.

Water recycling is a major issue within the Group. Many companies have installed their own wastewater treatment plants to relieve the pressure on municipal water treatment systems. Across the Group, more than 60% of wastewater is treated internally.

Water is a scarce but renewable resource. SARIA recognizes its responsibility to protect water resources for the future.