UK dairy companies are at the forefront of the food and drink industry’s efforts to improve water efficiency, according to a progress report published today.
The Food and Drink Manufacturing Water Use Report demonstrates that there have been marked gains in water efficiency across the industry.
Dairy companies featured in the report have reduced their water intensity – the amount of water used to produce a tonne of product – by 13% over the last seven years, accounting for a reduction of 0.2m3 per tonne of product.
These water savings at dairy processing sites have been made through more efficient cleaning in place systems, identifying water ‘hotspots’ and taking preventative action, increasing staff awareness and innovative water treatment technologies such as reverse osmosis which allows sites to recycle waste water to reuse in the manufacturing process.
Dr Judith Bryans, Chief Executive of Dairy UK, said: “This is a significant achievement for dairy companies given that production for these sites increased by 15% over the same reporting period.
“This progress demonstrates the dairy industry’s continuing commitment to reducing its water consumption and builds upon and complements the water reduction targets already set by the industry’s own Dairy Roadmap.”
