The Victorias Milling Company (VMC) recently announced they have invested in the construction of environmental infrastructure. During their annual stockholders meeting at the Victorias Golf and Country Club, VMC President Minnie Chua said, “We are taking action on the environmental issues [at] both our sugar production operation at the VMC mill and [at] our distillery plant in Manapla, all of which we expect to be operational by the third quarter of this year.”
One of the projects for the company mill is an ash pond, a structure used to filter coal byproducts from plant wastewater, which will augment the firm’s existing ponds. According to a press release, “This is expected to improve water quality being circulated in the boilers which will correspondingly result in a more efficient operation and reduce ash emission.”
VMC said the project is expected to be operational by the end of the first quarter this year.
The firm has also constructed a new shed to hold bagasse, or residue leftover after sugarcane is crushed. The new addition is said to have a capacity of 12,000 metric tons of bagasse.
Meanwhile, as part of their zero-waste program, a collection area for the “clear water discharge” from their raw house mills and refinery is being set-up wherein that water will be used as “make-up” water for the new ash pond.
In terms of VMC’s distillery in Manapla, five lagoons will be created in order to serve as a biological treatment area for slop, or the waste produced by the distillery. (PR)