As the dairy sector continues to offer new models to drive innovation and meet consumer demands in the sustainability field, this year’s green initiatives deliver measurable progress toward set goals, from lightweight packaging to post-consumer waste reduction and water and energy consumption.
Fluidor Equipment’s Fluivac offers an alternative to pigging systems, reducing waste and water consumption, while its BMPS-Paste technology separates product from the rejected bottle (PET or HDPE) so that the product can be re-used.
Reducing carbon emissions by 50% and displacing up to 70% of heavy fuel oil, Aurivo’s biomass energy facility is to be developed into a combined heat and power plant that aims to export energy to the national electricity grid by 2016. Also aiming to the reduce carbon footprint of dairy production, Wood Energy Solutions’ DairyPod is a fully integrated, self-contained hot water heating module, fuelled by sustainable and carbon neutral wood pallet fuel. The module can be located outside any dairy and includes storage of 10 hectolitres of hot water that can be used in post-milking wash down or the sanitation process.
Fair Cape Dairy’s environmental sustainability project includes a milking parlour that not only recycles water but also cow dung, which is used as fertiliser, ultimately reducing the use of chemical fertilisers by 20%.
Danzeisen Dairy’s eco-sensitive model aims to reduce the amount of post-consumer waste, delivering milk in glass bottles to grocers and offering a partial refund for the returned bottles to be sanitised on-site for reuse.
In the packaging world, Uniloy Milacron offers modern lightweight containers for dairy with comparable containers in terms of performance characteristics weighing 6–8g heavier. The new designs can be run on same filling and capping lines as the previous designs.
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