Martha Jiminez Cardoso from Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec Mixe, Oaxaca, Mexico comes from a farming family, and her ag roots have taught her to respect nature. She is Astral Tequila’s Director of Sustainability and has helped people in her community in a big way.
She takes the waste created during the distillation process and repurposes it into adobe-style bricks. Those are then donated to build homes for people in the village of Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec Mixe, some of which live below the poverty line.
One standard.75-liter of tequila produces more than 11 pounds of bagasse, the fibrous waste from the agave plant, and around 10 liters of vinasse, runoff of the distillation process.
Cardoso came up with the idea to combine the soil from the bagasse and vinasse from agave spirits to create a building material called adobe. The bricks can also be used as a construction material for the climate in Mexico.
Each bottle of Astral Tequila helps make two bricks. The project makes around 300 bricks per day.
Fun fact: Tequila is a $10-billion industry, and market experts anticipate international demand to increase to more than $15 billion before the end of 2030.
Story via Gia Mora with Modern Farmer
