Dairy Crest Hanworth - Case study: Reducing water use
“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
What have we done?
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. This
resulted 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.
Water savings seen since 2007
-
8% relative water savings across the business;
- 16% reduction in m3 of water used per tonne of milk
processed at Hanworth.
How joining the FHC helped
Joining the FHC focused Dairy Crest's attention on
water usage. The company has been monitoring water
usage at production sites for a number of years, but
benchmarking between sites was not regularly carried
out. Joining the FHC acted as the trigger to ensure this
was done.
At the Hanworth site, there had been a gradual
increase in the water volume used to process a tonne
of milk. Benchmarking identified that the site was
performing relatively poorly and, therefore, a detailed
water balance exercise as recommended by the FHC
was carried out. This identified the potential benefits of
carrying out the work.
More information
This case study istaken from the The Federation House Commitment - Progress
Report: 2009 published in July 2009.