A distiller of maotai, the sorghum-based drink known as China's national liquor, plans to invest millions of U.S. dollars to get bugs to digest its dregs.
"The biological recycling investment is not just for the purpose of environmental protection, but also to use organic resources through the recycling process," said Yuan Guoren, chairman of the board of the Shanghai-listed Maotai Co.
He said that the company will invest 146 million U.S. dollars on the recycling project, which aims to turn 100,000 tons of dregs into 60,000 tons of organic fertilizers and hundreds of tons of organic feedstuff and drugs a year by 2010.
Rearing fly larvae for waste recycling or feed production is a new idea in China. Maotai is a vanguard of using biotechnology in large-scale production, said Wu Jianwei, biologist with the Guiyang Medical Institute and chief technical advisor of Maotai's recycling project.
He explained that the recycling plant will incubate fly larvae in a sterile environment. The larvae will feed on the sorghum residue, which, after it passes through the insect's digestive tract, will be suitable for processing into a dozen varieties of organic products, such as fertilizers and feed, said Wu.
Maotai is distilled from fermented sorghum
The annual output of organic fertilizers from the recycling plant would be enough to nourish 33,333 hectares of sorghum plantation, he said.
In 2007, the company sold more than 6,800 tons of Maotai. However, the production process also created 80,000 tons of dregs, which was a major source of pollution at its production base in mostly rural Guizhou Province in southwest China.
The company's production expansion plan would further lift the annual amount of waste to 100,000 tons by 2010, when the recycling plant is expected to be in production to meet the demand of treating waste, said the chairman Yuan.
The environmentally friendly project is highly anticipated to preserve the environment of the picturesque countryside Maotai Town, which is said to have a unique climate and vegetation that contributes to the rich taste of the drink.
Maotai is one of the most famous liquors in the world, along with Scottish Whisky, French Brandy and Russia Vodka. It was introduced to the world at the 1915 Panama World's Fair, where Maotai got a Gold Medal for quality and unique flavor. Since then, the liquor has enjoyed a good reputation worldwide.
Source: Xinhua
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