Food and beverage manufacturer Nestlé East and Southern Africa Region (ESAR) has piloted an industrial-scale, artificial intelligence- (AI-) driven plant that reduces carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and recycles wastewater from production processes at its Babelegi Industrial Park, in Hammanskraal.

The industry-first pilot project leveraged partner Emissions Capture Company’s (ECCO’s) WhiteBox technology, a machine-learning-based system that captures CO2 from flue gas emissions, recycles industrial wastewater and creates sustainable green products.

The green products can be sold directly for animal feed, human food, consumer goods, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals or used to eliminate sulphur dioxide emissions without the need for water.

Data collected from the industrial scale pilot, which has been in successful operation for over 8 000 hours, combined with machine learning techniques, demonstrates that the WhiteBox can be calibrated to capture between 25% to 70% of Scope 1 CO2 emissions and recycle available industrial wastewater per site.

Much of this is done through direct air capture and energy-efficient gas processing, using low-fuel consumption methods.

“Our global commitment to reduce our impact on the environment influences every part of our business today. This partnership with ECCO demonstrates a significant evolution of our production processes to embrace circular principles at every step,” said Nestlé ESAR corporate communications and public affairs director Saint-Francis Tohlang.

“We are extremely proud to be pioneering this industry-first technology on the African continent. This success takes us to the next phase, where we will be looking to scale this operation to other factories to deliver significant reductions in Scope 1 emissions in ESAR.”

ECCO uses green chemistry and AI to extract CO2 from emissions, using it as an ingredient in everyday products, added ECCO CEO Thomas Darden.

“This partnership helps pave the way for a green economy. Our approach was holistic, ensuring that pollution remediation was key, along with other considerations such as water recycling and low fuel consumption. By design, the shift from legacy technologies to low carbon emission processes also improves livelihoods through employment creation, training and upskilling,” he continued.

The pilot directly upskilled and employed 15 people from the local community, with the potential to create more when scaled.

“Part of the operation has also included skills development for the rest of our staff at the facility to ensure a just transition to low emission operations, with no one left behind,” concluded Tohlang.

ECCO’s WhiteBox forms part of several ongoing long-term projects under Nestlé’s RE Sustainability Programme, which was launched in South Africa in October 2020 to help mitigate sustainability challenges and strengthen its contribution to a waste-free future.

Nestlé has a global commitment of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by 25% in 2025, 50% in 2030 and 100% in 2050.