With its tufts of brown grass interspersed by patches of bare, parched earth, the football field at Wray & Nephew’s Spanish Town Road complex has certainly seen better days. But there is a rescue plan afoot for the plot which offers diversion for scores of employees.

The local wines and spirits producer, which is owned by the Italian-based Campari Group, has installed a wastewater treatment plant from which it intends to irrigate its green areas once it obtains the requisite permit from the environment regulators. That end is still some months off, the company says, as it is still in the commissioning phase of the fully automated plant which has a capacity of 3,000 metres cube per day and cost US$7 million.

The move, production supply chain director Jorge Gonzalez told the Jamaica Observer, is an investment not only in the environment but in the company’s future too, as it positively impacts the bottomline.

“Every environmental investment has positive impact. First, it has a positive impact on the brand image and on the company. It reflects who you are and [shows that] you can be trusted as a corporate citizen if you not only comply with the laws but are, in a way, protecting your brand. The second [reason] is sustainability. The operations can be supported non-stop, so you can say the first business argument is to estbalish an operation that is fluid and that will not have any obstacles to run.

“It also fosters pride among employees and pride at the place you work is an important thing for us. Reducing the carbon footprint for us is the right thing to do and also it’s a commercial message so it helps to build the bottomline,” he explained.

Wray and Nephew previously treated sewage generated on its premises at 234 Spanish Town Road, but the new facility has expanded on that by incorporating sewage, trade effluent and rainwater run-off from all three of the company’s properties along the industrial belt.

“We linked sewage and trade effluent generated by our north complex, 473 Spanish Town Road, to this treatment plant. So everything we generate at 234, 473 and 232 comes to this plant to be treated,”engineering director Kevin Cadogan said.

The process, he explained, takes all effluent and sewage collected in underground tanks, or sumps, pumps them to an equalisation tank where they are made to interact with air to start the digestion process. A rotary screen drum separates the trash and debris from the liquid. From the equalisation tank, the brown liquid goes to the anoxic selector, then to the oxidation tank where more bacterial decomposition takes place. From there, it’s over to the clarifier where solids are separated from clean water and sent for disinfection and eventual discharge.

The treated water is expelled into the sea via the gully that runs behind Wray & Nephew and through the community of Seaview Gardens.

“All the water that we throw back into nature is treated 100 per cent,” Gonzalez told Environment Watch.

“It’s not coded as potable but it’s in perfect condition and is almost drinkable,” he added.

Although the plant can treat 3,000 cubic metres of wastewater per day, it is currently operating at half that volume.

“It’s designed to take our capacity needs for the next 10-15 years,” the production supply chain director said.

Speaking to the plant’s automated features, production director Dwight Balli called it “one of the few privately owned fully automated plants in Jamaica right now”.

“We have a full control panel with real-time automation, so it doesn’t just give you what the plant’s current state is, but it actually adjusts itself in terms of chemical feeds and air flows based on the activity of the plant,” he explained.

The expansion of wastewater treatment, Gonzalez said was in line with the parent company’s environmental policies.

“The Campari way is to be compliant with the regulations and reduce the carbon footprint to be responsible with the environment and be sustainable in everything we do,” he told Environment Watch.

“We are also ISO-14000 certified, that’s the environemtnal certification from ISO, part of the standards is to minimise our footprint in the use of natural resources, so this just falls right into that,” Gonzalez said.

What’s more, the company is ISO-22000 certified, which is a food safety standard that mandates it to control all the materials in the production process and ensure that there is a solid recycling programme. As far as Wray & Nephew is concerned, that protects the consumer by preventing the re-use of materials in multiple processes, and reducing the potential for cross-contamination of products.

“This is a unique facility for the island,” said Gonzalez. “It’s state of the art. The authorities have said we are setting the standard for the industry, and this is not cheap. It’s an installation that cost US$7 million. That’s an enormous amount of money and a big investment for the environment.

“It’s a long-term investment but it’s the right investment because it’s a return that continues over time,” he said.