Innovation

SOLEP's main innovation is that they are using the waste nobody else wants and that the majority are sending directly to landfills. In coordination with a transport company, they take care of the collection, transportation, treatment and final disposal of solid wastes with special handling, promoting the care of the environment and inviting more and more companies to be part of this social and environmental awareness so that, together, they spread the sense of social responsibility and commitment to the planet.

Organic fertilizer is the result obtained by biochemical decomposition at high temperatures through composting, helping farmers in Puebla to obtain a better fertilizer at an accessible price.

SOLEP offers organic fertilizers that are harmless, pest-free and easy to apply, and that help potentiate gardens and crops, greatly increasing soil productivity and richness. Proudly, SOLEP is one of the two companies approved by SEMARNAT to work with organic waste that comply with all environmental controls and regulations.

Already more than 70 companies are sending their organic waste, but SOLEP can continue adding many more and make this change greater. Teodoro Ramos, the production manager, told us when asked about the biggest innovation at SOLEP, "We got into an area that no one wanted to touch, taking advantage of what goes to waste, for example: No one thought that in a supermarket, the same employees would separate the organic and inorganic garbage, and we are achieving that."

Inspiration

This project was initiated thanks to the concern of its founders for the environment and how they could do something to reduce pollution in the State of Puebla. "There is still a lot to do in environmental education so that in the State of Puebla, each and every one of us learns to classify garbage and to reuse most of this waste and contribute to the creation of "Circular Economy." It is an incredible story where we can see that no matter the obstacles or difficulties, SOLEP is contributing to make this world better.

Overall impact

With this innovation, SOLEP is "returning to the earth many nutrients that have been lost by the use of chemical fertilizers that alter all the natural qualities of the soil in addition to destroying the organic matter of agricultural land."

The overall impact SOLEP has on the environment can be measured in the tons of organic waste they are receiving and converting into compost ending in “organic fertilizer.” Annually, they are recuperating around 12,000 tons of waste, avoiding sending all these tons to the landfill where it creates methane gas that in the future could be released to the atmosphere generating health issues. Also, this is impacting and benefiting many farmers to produce more healthy products without the use of chemicals and returning nutrients to the soil.

The main advantages offered by organic fertilizer are: increase in soil porosity, greater moisture retention, and increase of beneficial microorganisms and provision of nutrients necessary for the plant, durability (it takes more than two years to degrade). “The increase in yield and soil quality is permanent and long-term.”

Business benefit

Despite being a small company, SOLEP receives more than 40 tons a day of organic waste mainly from shopping centers, supermarkets and companies that have joined this great project and like SOLEP want to do something different for the environment, reducing pollution and stopping contributing to global warming.

SOLEP distributes its fertilizer mainly to farmers in the state and has formed an alliance with the government of Tlaxcala who has programs to support farmers, offering them 50% of their value to have access to buy it and use less chemicals as possible in their crops. All this brings a significant benefit to the health of food consumers as they are more natural products and it has allowed SOLEP to continue growing over almost 7 years since they started operations.

As part of this innovation, SOLEP provides on-site advice to all producers for the correct use of its fertilizer and how farmers can obtain better results and better crops benefiting the farmer, the soil and ourselves: the final consumers.

Social and environmental benefit

In Puebla, there is only one sanitary landfill that is no longer sufficient for the more than 1,700 tons of garbage that are generated daily. With this volume, the landfill is "on the verge of collapse" with no more than 15 years of life, and in the future, this could be a time bomb because without good control, all gases that are generated as part of the decomposition of organic matter have no outlet. With the use of organic waste, we avoid contributing to the generation of methane gas and its expulsion into the environment, besides promoting the correct management of organic waste.

Despite being a small company, SOLEP receives 40 tons a day of organic waste mainly from shopping centers, supermarkets and companies that have joined this great project and like SOLEP want to do something different for the environment.

The main advantages offered by organic fertilizer are: increase in porosity, greater moisture retention, increase of beneficial microorganisms, provision of nutrients necessary for the plant, durability (it takes more than two years to degrade). “The increase in yield and soil quality is permanent and long-term”

Interview

Ing. Teodoro Ramos Arenas, Production Manager