CASE STUDY #43
1. Headline: Reducing waste in the desiccated coconut
industry
2. Background: Before Peter Paul Philippines Corporation
entered a joint venture with Taiwan's Chia Meei company,
it was generating 80 000 liters a day of wasted coconut
water. The large volume of highly organic wastewater
generated is a major pollution problem in any desiccated
coconut (DCN) processing plant. The by-products of DCN
processing at Peter Paul before implementing coconut water
recovery were crude coconut oil and copra meal.
Peter Paul Philippines Corporation is one of the largest
firms producing desiccated coconut (DCN). It has a 13-
hectare facility located at Barrio Pahinga, Candelaria,
Quezon. It has a rated capacity of 22 000 tons of DCN per
year, mainly for export, and it employs more than 1700
people.
3. Cleaner Production Principle: Internal recycling
4. Description of Cleaner Production Application: As part of
the Industrial Environmental Management Project (IEMP), a
pollution management appraisal (PMA) was conducted at
Peter Paul Philippines Corporation. A PMA aims to identify
opportunities for reducing pollution using a waste
management hierarchy in which waste minimization is the
dominant component. One of the PMA recommendations was
segregation, recovery and recycling of coconut water. This
was realized when Peter Paul entered into a joint venture
with the Chia Meei company of Taiwan, which established a
plant next to Peter Paul.
Collected coconut water is channeled to the Chia Meei
plant for concentrating, freezing and final processing as a
commercial drink. Peter Paul improved its handling of shelled
and pared coconuts and installed a breaker to facilitate
collection of coconut water. The Chia Meei plant which started
operations in November 1993 requires 40 000 liters a day of
coconut water from Peter Paul. After Processing the coconut
water is shipped to Taiwan where it is produced as a commercial
juice.
Enabling technology: The Peter Paul and Chia Meei venture
involves exporting concentrated and frozen coconut water
for final processing in Taiwan. Coconut processing into a
commercial juice drink involves pasteurization and
centrifugation to produce a clear, non-oily solution for
packing in sterile containers.
5. Economics:
Savings: US$/year
treatment costs 3 700
increased output 370 000
The Chia Meei company was able to begin a new business
processing 40 000 liters a day of coconut water into a
commercial drink.
6. Advantages: The estimated biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)
level of wastewater from the Peter Paul facility was
reduced by about 50 percent. The annual avoided treatment
cost is approximately $3 700, assuming a 10 per cent
reduction in the $37 000 annual operating cost of the
wastewater treatment plant. Peter Paul and Chia Meei
company now profit from raw material once considered as
waste. Since workers are now paid per whole pared coconut,
they pare the coconut more carefully, resulting in a
better controlled paring thickness, less coconut wastage
and increased DCN production; and an increase of 13.6kg of
DCN per ton of coconuts processed resulted in an estimated
annual savings of $370 000, based on 10 000 tons of DCN
production per year.
7. Constraints: N/A
8. contacts:Mr Frank Klar
Resident Manager
Peter Paul Philippines Corporation
Barrio Pahinga, Candelaria, Quezon
The Philippines
Tel: +63 4 261 84307
Mr David L. Wadsworth
Industrial Environmental
Management Project
9th floor, JMT Corporate Condominium
ADB Avenue, Orgitas Complex
Pasig, Metro Manila
The Philippines
Tel: +63 2 634 1617 to 21
Fax: +63 2 634 1622
Dr Ronald S. Senykoff
Chief, NRD-USAID
Ramon Magsaysay Center
1680 Roxas Boulevard
Manila
The Philippines
Tel: +63 2 521 5226
Fax: +63 2 522 2512
9. Keywords:Philippines, food processing, coconut,
recycling, BOD, by-product, IEMP, USAID
10. Reviewer comments: This case study was originally
published in the UNEP IE document "Cleaner Production in the
ASIA and Pacific Economic Coorporation (APEC) Region. In the
process of preparing the document the case study underwent a
technical review.