Reducing Our Impact with Water Recovery

By Tetra Pak Editorial Team

It’s no surprise that perhaps one of the most important ingredients in the food and beverage industry is water. Because it is such a precious resource in everything from product processing to facility operations, many in the food and beverage industry are finding new ways to wring maximum value and efficiency from every drop.

Amid rising prices and growing water scarcity, food manufacturers around the world are finding ways to increase their system-wide water efficiencies through recycling programs and other initiatives.

Many companies have set ambitious goals for water replenishment. Coca-Cola, for example, is working to improve its water efficiency by 25 percent by the year 2020. Unilever, meanwhile, has committed to cutting the water its new factories consume by half between 2008 and 2020.

Here are some specific water conservation practices to help companies better manage water resources and meet water recovery goals.

Water filtration
Water filtering stations not only decrease consumption of power and water, but also reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The stations remove lubrication, residues, and other contaminants, and then circulate clean water back into the processing system.

Because they reduce the need for maintenance of processing machinery, water filtering systems actually help lower operational costs and improve environmental performance.

The resulting water efficiency can be substantial. Water filtering stations helped one dairy producer in Europe reduce the quantity of water used in filling machine operations by 95 percent, saving more than 5.8 million gallons of water per year.

read more/source: http://www.doingwhatsgood.us/sustainability/reducing-our-impact-with-water-recovery.htm