Lanas Trinidad and Sustainable Living

Lanas Trinidad, a well-established wool producer based in Uruguay and a member of the International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO), has set a new standard for sustainable production with its circular economy philosophy. The company is the main producer and exporter of scoured wool and combed wool tops in the country, and its products are exported to the most demanding markets across the globe. Aside from its commitment to producing high-quality wool, Lanas Trinidad is also dedicated to sustainable and environmentally conscious wool production practices.

The Three Components of Lanas Trinidad’s Circular Economy

According to Marcelo Capeci, Industrial Mill Manager at Lanas Trinidad, the company’s circular economy is an industrial production model that prioritises three key factors:

1. The design of products to minimise waste and reduce environmental impact.
2. The regeneration and reuse of materials throughout the production cycle.
3. The restoration of natural environments that have been degraded by human activity.

As a business that scours vast quantities of wool, Lanas Trinidad needs to use significant amounts of water – a precious environmental resource. In applying these three points to its industrial process, therefore, the company has to account for the sources of the water it uses, as well as the wastewater procedures it employs after the industrial process.

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Putting a Philosophy into Action

To answer these questions and make its circular economy philosophy a reality, Lanas Trinidad took the decisive step of constructing its own dam, with a capacity of 1 000 000 cubic metres. The dam fed entirely with rainwater, a completely renewable resource, and makes no demands on local rivers, municipal drinking systems or groundwater. This dam is connected to the industrial mill via an aqueduct, feeding 800 cubic metres of water each day for scouring wool. In addition, all the detergents used for the process are entirely natural and biodegradable.

That answers the first question. Now, once the process is complete, what happens to the wastewater?

First, special centrifuges are used to separate the water from the wool grease. The grease is sold as a raw material for the production of lanolin, used in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. The remaining water is treated in a set of aerobic and anaerobic lagoons. Here it goes through a process that takes up to nine months, after which the water’s purity and quality reportedly surpasses all legal requirements. It could then be fed back into rivers and other water systems, but Lanas Trinidad uses it for tree and forage irrigation. This leads to accelerated tree growth, which then helps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The methane gas which is produced as a natural byproduct of the process is caught in a football-sized lagoon, securely covered with a polyethylene membrane, thus prevent the release of this gas into the atmosphere. Lanas Trinidad can thus reduce up to 95% of its greenhouse gas emissions from this anaerobic stage. The methane is then used to generate electricity, meaning the company produces a significant portion of its power supply from its own biogases.

Lanas Trinidad has powerfully demonstrated that effective, sustainable industrial production is entirely possible, serving as a fine example for other stakeholders in the industry.

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