As with any other distillery, odor from the effluent is normal due to the presence of sulfur and yeast, which are however neither toxic to humans nor harmful to the environment. A major practice introduced by SCBI to reduce odor of the effluent is to pass it through an Anaerobic Digester which breaks down its organic matter into methane or  biogas which is burned in the boilers and dissipated.  A method recently introduced is by way of drip irrigation – a new sugarcane farming technology – wherein the water is filtered and pumped directly to the root system of the sugarcane ,thereby preventing the odor to escape above ground. With the onset of wet weather, however, SCBI  has realized that it cannot fully irrigate the sugarcane fields with effluent, which causes the water to stay longer and stagnate in the lagoon that in turn produces odor. SCBI, conscious of its social responsibility to the community, has been applying enzymes despite the high cost to minimize odor. Compared with the previous operations, SCBI has partly succeeded in gradually reducing the odor, and is testing other modern organic and chemical means to minimize the odor. It is also presently studying how to increase the drip irrigation system in order to be able to dilute more reused effluent, also called vinasse, which will lessen the odor and spread out the product more evenly in the sugar cane fields in the same way it is done in Brazil.

On the matter of small amounts of ash from the chimney, the public may rest assured that SCBI is using Electro-static Precipitators (ESP) to capture all ash and soot that normally come out from the smoke stack. SCBI is the first Mill to install and use ESPs with 96-98% ash recovery per World Bank standards; while other sugar centrals recover much less due to old technology used in their chimneys. It is however unfortunate that one of the ESPs malfunctioned and is currently giving the plant around 75% recovery. This is under repair so in the meantime the company is exploring solutions to regain maximum ash recovery. SCBI has conducted sampling of ambient air quality around San Carlos City and the results are within standard parameters of the Clean Air Act.

As part of its outreach program, SCBI welcomes San Carlos residents for educational site tours to enable them to understand what it is doing in terms of becoming less dependent on imported fuel, protecting the environment, the economy and jobs generation in our communities. SCBI is the first to take on the challenge of the Bio-fuels Act of 2006. As a young company and the first in the country, it is still experiencing birth pains in the new fuel ethanol industry . It is now only on its third year, and it is only now that it is realizing a modest positive income to begin recovering from the huge losses of the first two years when sugar prices skyrocketed but ethanol prices dove downward due to a collapse of oil prices. Sugar prices are more realistic now and so cane prices more closely reflect the price recovery in oil products,  so the shareholders have chosen to keep the plant running by producing  both liquid sugar and fuel ethanol for the sake of the economy of San Carlos, because the truth of the matter is that it would have been easier for SCBI just to stop operating and temporarily close down so  as not to incur more losses.  This year, the Company has added a new business, that of producing ethanol from molasses. It hopes to eventually graduate to a mixed raw material composed of cane juice, molasses, and sweet sorghum in the future; all of which should be good for the farmers and residents of San Carlos and surrounding Municipalities, creating more jobs and more income opportunities for the people producing and delivering various raw material which include biomass for Power Generation which SCBI also supplies to the City of San Carlos and the Municipality of Calatrava thru VRESCO Distribution lines.

SCBI is asking the community to understand that it is doing everything to address the issues which have caused some discomfort in the City of San Carlos. It asks the residents of the City to look at the bigger picture which will show that SCBI is here to continue what was lost with the closure of SCMCI and San Miguel Aqua – to bring food to the tables of many families and send many children to school. SCBI will also continue to help other small businesses to prosper thru the ripple effect and generally helps the local economy in many ways. SCBI brings positive economic impact directly or indirectly to everyone in San Carlos and its neighbours. With all its contributions, it is undeniable that SCBI has become the lifeblood for San Carlos City which hopes to become the future “Renewable Energy Hub” of the Visayas. *SCBI