L’Oréal in partnership with Davis & Shirtliff for water plant installation

Global cosmetic Company, L’Oréal  has partnered with water and energy solutions provider Davis and Shirtliff in a bid to reduce environmental impact and water consumption through installation of a water treatment plant in Nairobi.

 

The move is set to ensure the availability of clean water at all times while mitigating against water shortages through the smart recycling of waste water through a Dayliff waste water treatment plant.

 

According to the United Nations, water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of population growth in the last century, and, although there is no global water scarcity, as such, an increasing number of regions are chronically short of water.

 

Water aid estimates that 16 million Kenyans still lack access to safe water while over 10,000 children die every year from diarrhea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation.

 

Water treatment manager Joy Busolo said that there is enormous need for water treatment in the region because most of the sources of water are contaminated.

 

“The water that is available to the Kenyan market, is not safe to be used as it is, it requires treatment.  Being a key player in the water industry, we have to be the leaders in providing the different technologies to meet our customer demands,” he said

 

The firm provides water treatment solutions that treat any kind of polluted water be it bacteria, dirt or excess mineral content such as salty water.

 

“We have solutions for any source of water, be it surface water from rivers, lakes, dams or rain, underground water from boreholes and shallow wells as well as sea water. We also have solutions for treating waste water to make it good enough to recycle or send it back to the environment,” explained Busolo.

 

The technologies in use include sand and activated carbon filtration, cartridge filtration, chemical dosage, ultra violet disinfection, reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration.

 

All these solutions are locally assembled making it easily available, serviceable and affordable for the market.

Davis & Shirtliff recently installed a water treatment plant at L’Oréal’s East Africa factory on Mombasa road in a move to meet the company’s carbon and water footprint targets, designed to contribute to Kenya’s transition to a low carbon economy. L’Oréal’s East Africa, a subsidiary of L’Oreal Group, is associated with products like Nice & Lovely among others.

 

The plant treats borehole water to reduce excess minerals in order to meet the stringent quality levels required for cosmetic production. Methods used included sand filtration, activated carbon filtration, chemical dosage, ultra violet disinfection and, ultimately, Reverse Osmosis.

 

According to Alec Davis, CEO, Davis & Shirtliff, the water treatment plant, which was installed between September and October 2015, is designed to allow for future expansion driven by the need to address water challenges.

 

He further added that the need for companies to invest in installing water treatment solutions noting that it is good for business.

 

“Water Treatment solutions ensure that industrial equipment is protected from harmful elements that could damage it and also ensures that industrial processes are provided with water that meets their standards for productions or to the equipment especially for industries,” he said.

 

The plant was installed as part of an upgrade project by L’Oréal that began in June 2015 to ensure scarce resources such as water are properly utilized and that the environment is preserved sustainably.

 

The project is aimed at reducing overall water use by recycling process water while ensuring the water used for production meets the manufacturing parameters for L’Oréal products.

 

L’Oréal East Africa’s Environment Health Safety and Engineering Manager John Wachira said the initiative has been driven by L’Oréal’s new sustainability commitment for 2020 to sustainable development and to sharing beauty with all.

 

Wachira said that initially Davis & Shirtliff had supplied only one Reverse Osmosis unit, but the amount of water sent to waste was about 36 per cent, however with the introduction of the additional 3 units, the amount of water sent to waste has reduced to about 17-14 per cent.

 

“What was once waste water is now available for use elsewhere, and the plant benefits from further carbon footprint reductions still, as the previously larger amount of water in use needed to be pumped using electricity,” he said.

 

L’Oréal was recently recognized as a global leader for its climate change mitigation strategy in the annual Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), ranking for the third year in a row.