Grupo Hijuelas Laboratory Launches Partnership with Río Verde to Give Plastic Waste a New Life

The initiative will enable plastic waste generated by Invitro Lab’s operations in Chile’s Los Lagos Region to be transformed into sustainable and durable furniture products. The project was presented during a visit by Osorno Mayor Jaime Bertín to Grupo Hijuelas’ facilities in Osorno.

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Advancing toward increasingly sustainable production processes and giving new life to the waste generated by its operations is the goal of the partnership that Grupo Hijuelas, through Invitro Lab, is developing with Río Verde, a company specialized in plastic reuse.

The initiative was presented at Grupo Hijuelas’ facilities in Osorno, where representatives from both organizations explained the process through which plastic waste generated by laboratory activities can be recovered, processed, and transformed into new products.

Grupo Hijuelas has maintained a presence in Osorno for nearly a decade, carrying out activities related to plant research and propagation. In this context, waste management and the incorporation of circular economy practices have become part of the environmental challenges associated with its production processes.

Sebastián Vaccaro, founder of Río Verde, highlighted that the collaboration seeks to create a complete reuse cycle for these materials, allowing waste to return to the company as products with a new purpose.

“We are very proud to take part in this partnership with Grupo Hijuelas, through which we will repurpose the plastic waste generated by its operations and transform it into sustainable, durable products designed for outdoor use. These products will then return to Grupo Hijuelas, creating a fully circular economy,” Vaccaro explained.

In this way, the project aims to go beyond traditional recycling by creating a closed-loop system in which a material that has reached the end of its first useful life can be processed and later reincorporated as a new product.

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Greener Processes and Stronger Community Connections

For Grupo Hijuelas, the initiative is also part of a broader vision of sustainability and the company’s relationship with the communities where it operates.

Patricia Sone, Corporate Laboratory Manager at Grupo Hijuelas, explained that this approach is directly connected to the company’s purpose.

“Our purpose is to cultivate life, and in doing so we have a responsibility to care for and respect everything around us. We want our processes to be environmentally friendly, to promote a circular economy, and also to care about the communities where we operate,” she said.

Sone added that this vision also seeks to involve everyone within the organization and to look toward the future of its production processes.

“We want to build a network that allows us to create new things while staying connected with everyone around us, especially our employees. We also want to encourage the idea that we need to think about future generations and make our processes as green as possible,” she said.

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‍Mayor of Osorno Highlights Innovation Developed in the City

The activity also included the participation of Osorno Mayor Jaime Bertín, who toured the facilities to learn more about Grupo Hijuelas’ work in the area and the initiatives the company is developing in innovation and sustainability.

Following the visit, the mayor highlighted the potential of these types of projects to contribute to local and regional development.

“One never stops being surprised. There are such powerful, positive, and promising initiatives being developed within the municipality that they truly deserve support, because very interesting opportunities for the development of our territory can emerge from them,” Bertín said.

The mayor particularly valued the level of innovation he observed during the visit.

“They are making a major effort here, innovating, creating, and moving forward on issues that are truly important for the region and the country. I am very pleasantly surprised by everything that is happening and by everything they are doing. I believe the company’s initiatives are moving in the right direction in the search for development within the territory itself,” he added.

The partnership with Río Verde therefore becomes part of the broader efforts Grupo Hijuelas and Invitro Lab are undertaking to incorporate sustainability criteria into their processes, combining innovation, plant production, circular economy practices, and corporate social responsibility.

The objective is to move toward a model in which the growth of productive activities can coexist with responsible waste management, creating new solutions from materials that previously reached the end of their life cycle after a single use.

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