Dairy Crest - Case study: Water efficiency
“We are already committed to continuous improvement of our environmental
performance through our accreditation to ISO 14001. However, we see the FHC as a
further impetus to driving down our usage of this valuable environmental resource.”
Ann Lovering
Group Environmental Manager, Dairy Crest
Having joined the FHC, Dairy Crest undertook a benchmarking exercise across its
sites. This identified that the Hanworth site's water use per tonne of milk
processed was higher than that at a similar site in the group.
To investigate, an exercise was carried out on key items of equipment at the
site, which showed that the bottle washers were using significantly more water than
their designed usage.
The jet bars on both bottle washers had jet nozzle damage and wear, increasing
the orifice sizes, resulting in the bottle washers using a considerably higher
amount of water, with the machines running out of balance.
It was proposed that all 64 jet bars and 1,250 jets be changed for new stainless
steel versions on both bottle washers. The project costs to achieve this were
£57,000.
When the jet bars were replaced, a 5,502 m3 per month water reduction was
realised (on a like for like production volume), equating to 66,024 m3 per year water
and effluent savings. A reduction in steam use of 166 tonnes per week was also
achieved, with the total savings estimated at £200,000 per year.
Since 2007, Dairy Crest have seen relative water savings of 8% across the
business and a 16% reduction in m3 of water used per tonne of milk processed at their
Hanworth site.
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Last reviewed: 22 Dec 2009