August 28, 2014 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

Four years in, the Energy from Coffee Wastewater project led by UTZ Certified, the Netherlands-based sustainability program, has proven that it is possible to generate energy, tackle climate change and protect water resources by treating discharges from coffee mills. The project started in 2010 with the goal of addressing environmental and health problems caused by the wastewater produced in the coffee industry, receiving funding from the Global Sustainable Biomass Fund, which is commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by Agency NL, a department of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation.

Anaerobic reactor. Credit: UTZ Certified

Latin America produces approximately 70 percent of the world's coffee and claims home to 31 percent of the world's freshwater resources. Yet, coffee production generates a great amount of wastewater that is regularly released untreated into rivers. Additionally, coffee wastewater comes with tons of organic waste and high toxicity which affects the soil and generates considerable amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly methane, which contributes to climate change. 

As part of the project, tailor-made coffee wastewater treatment systems and solid-waste treatment mechanisms were installed at eight differently sized coffee farms in Nicaragua, 10 in Honduras and one in Guatemala.

The project resulted in the treatment of essentially all water used in coffee processing; more than 50 percent less water used during coffee processing; generation of significant amounts of biogas used to power households and coffee mills; and prevention of the release of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. In addition, the benefits resulting from the project ranged from preventing local deforestation of native trees to better indoor environments for families who replaced firewood with domestic gas stoves for cooking.

"Coffee production is only environmentally sustainable when water is used efficiently and polluted water from the wet-mill process is treated. Local ecosystems do not have the capacity to clean the large amounts of contaminated fluids," said Han De Groot, executive director at UTZ Certified. "Rural communities and coffee production depend intrinsically on a ready supply of fresh water. So if we want to talk about coffee produced in a sustainable manner then wastewater must be treated when released into the environment."

The positive environmental and economic impact of the project on over 5,000 people in the region has inspired UTZ Certified to implement the initiative in other countries. UTZ Certified is currently introducing the technology in Peru and Brazil, and hopes to replicate the initiative in Africa and Asia.

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