The value of resource efficiency in the food industry: a waste minimisation project in East Anglia, UK

摘要

Waste minimisation can be as successful in the food and drink industry as in other industries often seen as more polluting. ￡1.1m was realised in annual savings by 13 companies in the East Anglian Waste Minimisation in the Food and Drink Industry Project, which exceeded the Project investment of ￡412,000 plus the ￡335,000 invested by companies in cleaner technologies. The 13 food and drink companies annually reduced: raw materials use and solid waste production by 1400 tonnes; CO_2-emissions by 670 tonnes; and water use by 70,000 m~3. Significant amounts of food grade material are rejected from the production line for their unsatisfactory quality. This can be for visual, physical, microbiological or compositional (chemical or biochemical) reasons. The reduction in the use of raw materials carried the greatest potential for financial savings. This reduction at source approach exceeded the corresponding savings in landfill costs by more than two orders of magnitude. This reinforces the importance for companies to identify opportunities for source reduction rather than end-of-pipe solutions and the relatively low cost of disposal for the food and drink industry. Minimising the packaging of food products presents an opportunity as well as considerable challenges to the food and drink industry as the main concern in the supply-chain is for food safety. Initiatives to reduce electricity and water consumption and to improve effluent quality did not individually carry the same potential for costs savings as the other areas. Consequently, these potential savings were given a lower priority within the companies. However, many electricity, water and effluent initiatives were implemented by fairly simple means and led to substantial savings. Changes in technology brought significant savings in manpower, as well as for materials and utilities. These savings are controversial in sustainability terms and attention has to be focused on ensuring that increased efficiency creates alternative work for people, as well as for equipment. Procedural changes often focused on auditing, material handling and staff training, and with low associated capital cost, these proved to be keys to success. The results from the Project have shown that there is a great potential for more sustainable production and consumption systems simply through improving dialogue between producers, retailers and consumers.