The German fragrance and aroma house Symrise inaugurated a factory for butters and essential oils at the Ecoparque, a sustainable industrial complex of Natura in Pará. The Brazilian multinational cosmetics and personal hygiene and perfumery company launched the business condominium in March 2014, with the inauguration of its soap factory on site. The Ecoparque is located in the municipality of Benevides, 35 km from Belém.
The Ecoparque project is inspired by the concept of symbiosis, applied innovatively to industrial development. The goal is to create an integrated production chain, where inputs produced or discarded by one company can be used in the production of another.
Symrise is the first partner of Natura in this project. The German company will process butters and oils from biodiversity assets on site – cupuaçu, cocoa, andiroba, ucuuba, murumuru, passion fruit, and Brazil nuts. The company supplies oils to manufacturers like Natura, which uses the input in the production of its soaps in Benevides and in other products manufactured at its headquarters in Cajamar (SP).
Natura has allocated R$ 217 million to the Ecoparque so far, built on an area of 173 hectares along the PA 391 highway. The company's soap factory on site will produce more than 200 million soaps this year and has an installed capacity to produce 500 million units annually.
"We are ready to welcome other partners interested in building this innovative business condominium through shared development," says Roberto Lima, CEO of Natura.
The companies in the Ecoparque will have to use traceable natural resources from socially and environmentally sustainable sources, and contribute to articulating the local structure of innovation and research, so that the complex becomes a vector for new businesses in the Amazon. "We believe that, as in nature, industries have a better chance of survival when they operate collectively and generate benefits for the community in which they are inserted," says Josie Perissinoto Romero, Vice President of Operations and Logistics at Natura.
The facilities of the Ecoparque were designed to mitigate environmental impact.
Natura used an innovative effluent treatment based on plant roots, the so-called filter gardens. In the equipment, geothermal systems capture external air and promote thermal exchange in the subsoil to reduce the temperature inside the buildings and save energy. In addition, there is rainwater reuse and the utilization of natural ventilation and lighting in the facilities.
The Ecoparque is an integral part of Natura's strategy in the Amazon. In 2000, the company began incorporating assets from Brazilian biodiversity into the formulation of its products, combining science and traditional knowledge with the generation of job and income opportunities for hundreds of families. In 2011, Natura launched the Amazon Program, which has among its commitments to increase the use of cosmetic raw materials sourced from the region to 30%, benefit more than 10,000 families from supplying communities, and mobilize R$ 1 billion in its own resources in the region.
"Symrise recognized the work developed by the Ecoparque and how it socioeconomically impacts the region, hence the alliance with Natura. Being at the Ecoparque means being directly linked to the richest sources of organic raw materials for perfumery, close to farmers and the native production of the Amazon," says Ricardo Omori, president of fragrances at Symrise in Latin America.
