The heat from the existing machinery was creating excessive temperatures in the dairy, resulting in an extremely uncomfortable work environment, and opening the plant up to the risk of product quality being compromised.
In addition, the ageing machinery was sometimes failing, causing unplanned downtime and costly interruptions to the supply chain.
The existing shrink wrap system was expensive and inefficient, presenting a challenge to sustainability managers at Dale Farm who were tasked with reducing the company’s waste and adhering to increasingly stringent environmental guidelines.
During an extensive trial with Dale Farm, TrakRap replaced three shrink wrapping machines used to package yogurts and crème fraiche ready for transport and distribution with its own machines.
The TrakRap system eliminates the use of heat, as applied in shrink wrap systems, substituting it with seven-microns-thick C8 LLDPE – a 100% recyclable polymer film that is lighter, and, when combined with TrakRap corrugate tray designs, uses less cardboard making it suitable for ambient, fresh and frozen products.
Use of the TrakRap system reduced Dale Farm’s film usage by 68%, achieving a CO2 reduction of 87 tonnes per annum and a lower cost per pack.
Typically, food industry heat tunnels such as the ones used by Dale Farm are rated around 30Kw/hr and over a two-shift system, three tunnels can burn up to 125Mw of electricity each year. The TrakRap system implemented at Dale Farm uses virtually no energy when idle and 0.75 Kw/hr when flat out, using less than 3Mw of electricity to do the same work. This has reduced Dale Farm’s pack wrapping energy usage by 95% per annum.
Requiring no capital expenditure, TrakRap works on an innovative cost per case agreement, allowing Dale Farm to make a significant cost per pack saving without significant financial outlay.
The TrakRap system’s use of 100% recyclable film, and its ability to deliver significant energy savings, ensures that it exceeds the requirements of both the Courtaulds Agreement and the EEC Waste Directive.
As a result of its collaboration with TrakRap, Dale Farm has made substantial savings in materials usage, energy costs, pack costs and CO2 emissions, without any capital expenditure.
Source: TrakRap
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