Environmental Commitment
Being sustainable
Our planet is experiencing critical years and needs a high degree of awareness on the part of human beings if we want to preserve it biodiversity.
Being sustainable also means being proactive with initiatives that care about our environment and see the ways to reduce the impact on our world. Among our initiatives, we share with you our recent ones that are focusing on the responsible breeding of alpacas, measurement of our CO2 emissions, water treatment plant and how these are the starting points to reduce our impact over our land.
Organic Farming
Back in 2015 we took the decision to become the first farm in the world to offer a certified organic Alpaca fiber. We decided to certify our farm which is the largest private alpaca farm in Peru, where we have over 4,000 alpacas in an area of more than 3,000 hectares in the Puno region.
We are the only certified private farm worldwide, up to date, that is certified organic. This certification covers the land, the animal and fiber.
Michell is certified to the RAS, which verifies alpaca animal welfare and land management requirements and tracks it from farm to final product. For further information please visit:
https://textileexchange.org/standards/responsible-alpaca-standard
RWS
Michell is certified to the RWS, which verifies wool animal welfare and land management requirements and tracks it from farm to final product. For further information please visit: https://textileexchange.org/standards/responsible-wool
Carbon Footprint
At Michell we care about implementing measures that allow us to identify and take actions regarding the impact that the company generates on the environment.
Our first step in doing so was the first measurement of our Carbon Footprint according to the international standard which was finished in May 2022. The object of this measurement was to quantify our direct and indirect CO2 emissions, including the breeding of alpacas, production processes, transport of personnel, travels, electricity, transport of materials, among others. The measurement of the carbon footprint is the base of a series of strategies that we are setting to offset our emissions in the short, medium and long term.
Hilando Verde
The meaning of Hilando Verde is Green Spinning. This is project of planting trees in our city that started back in 2019, is proof of the intention we have at Michell to reduce our carbon footprint and provide the city of Arequipa with sources of oxygen that mean a valuable contribution in the preservation of the environment.
With more than 1,250 trees planted in 3 districts on the outskirts of the city, we are not only plant them but also indicate that that we carry out adequate control and monitoring of the plantations to ensure the correct growth of the trees. To date, we can indicate that more than 90% of planted trees are developing properly.
We will continue with the project Hilando Verde during the upcoming years as we aim to plant more trees. These initiatives were made possible thanks to the support of the Provincial Municipality of Arequipa, Cerro Colorado and Socabaya, as well as the National Forest and Wildlife Service (SERFOR), the GeaGreen Group and all the volunteers from different organisations, universities and from Michell.
Water Treatment Plant
Our Michell water treatment plant at the scouring mill was installed back in 2017, and it aims to treat the water before it is disposed to the tributaries.
With an investment of almost US$1million, this is a state-of-the-art water treatment plant that can process 1,200m3 per day, using a chemical and physical system known as Dissolved Air Flotation, which helps us meeting and surpassing the water disposal regulations set by the Peruvian government.