Costa Rican company Florida Ice & Farm (FIFCO) celebrated in December last year the accomplishment of their goal to become the first mass consumption company in Costa Rica to be certified as carbon positive, now, the company celebrates another milestone as they become the first company in Latin America to receive the certification “Zero Waste to Landfill”.

The certification, awarded by The Carbon Trust Standard (CTS) – a world leader in the evaluation of environmental management – evaluates companies’ sustainability programs.

CTS evaluated the methodology used by FIFCO to manage the post-industrial residues during one year, after which the good results were demonstrated by reducing to almost zero the amount of waste that reach the landfills.

To accomplish this, FIFCO had to evaluate the residue management of their entire operation in the country, which includes ten beverage factories, ten distribution centers, their corporate offices, the recycling plan and their commercial areas.

The Zero Waste to Landfill certification is one of the most demanding in the world, to be able to receive it CTS allows a maximum of 1% of residues being sent to landfills and only if this percentage is justified due to the lack of treatment options available in the country; other certifications allow as much as 10%-20% of waste sent to landfill but as explained by Gisela Sanchez, from FIFCO, “the strictness in the environmental certifications to which FIFCO adheres is what makes us stand out in the market, which is why we opted for a CTS Certification”.

FIFCO sent 0.22% of their wastes to landfill since there was no existing system available in Costa Rica for its valorization.

FIFCO reached the first position in the ranking “Great Place to Work” among companies in Central America and the Caribbean.