Increased awareness of the threat that discarded plastics place on our planet has led sustainability-focused businesses such as ours to be increasingly mindful of the impact that our operations have on the environment.
At Skretting, this consciousness continues to inspire new initiatives, with one of the most recent and potentially far-reaching schemes being launched by Skretting Ecuador.
As one of the world’s most important shrimp-producing nations, Ecuador uses a lot of our feed. To ensure the used polythene bags that previously contained these diets can be re-purposed in the most responsible manner possible, we have entered into a collaboration with plastics companies Soluciones Pro Medio Ambiente Prambi SA and Nutec Representaciones SA.
Together, we devised a unique circular economy strategy whereby the same logistics providers that distribute our shrimp feeds collect the empty bags as well as any other plastic waste generated by the farms and bring it all to our facilities in Duran.
After sorting, Nutec converts any waste into raw materials for other industries, while Prambi upcycles the old bags into boards which are then used as floodgates at shrimp ponds. Traditionally, floodgates are made of wood and have a short lifespan due to the inclement weather.
In lasting five-times longer, the recycled plastic boards equate to a significant economic saving for the shrimp farmers. Using them also results in reduced deforestation, with the calculation that for every 1,000 hectares of shrimp farm, 67 trees are cut down just to manufacture wooden floodgates.
As well as providing the motivation for local shrimp producers to reduce the sector’s environmental footprint, this scheme also intends to inspire other industries in Ecuador and beyond to take a greener, more responsible approach to their business activities.
Our people are central to our global mission of ‘Feeding the Future’. To fulfil this promise, we need a driven and passionate community of people: people who work together across borders; people who know that “we” is more powerful than “I”; and people that understand that the best solutions are found when they openly collaborate.
