Reducing Waste - Food and Drink Processing

The Reducing Waste Series: Food and Drink Processing 

Do you have a food and drink manufacturing business? You won’t need anyone to tell you that your business gets through huge quantities of raw materials, energy, and water, but if you use these resources more efficiently, you can really reduce your costs and increase your profits.

How to reduce your waste in your food and drink business

If you want to reduce your business costs, the first thing you should do is look at how much waste you produce then put measures in place to reduce it. You can:

• Make better use of food waste or other organic waste by recycling or composting
• Avoid using too much packaging, and try to design or use packaging that is recyclable or reusable.
• Put a good quality control system in place so that defects and issues can be spotted early on. Rejected products and unhappy customers cost you money
• Improve energy efficiency in your business

Reducing water usage

• Make sure your production processes are as efficient as possible so they don’t use as much water
• Don’t use excessive water for cleaning
• Invest in some water-saving measures in kitchens and toilets to reduce your water usage

How to improve energy efficiency

Reducing your energy usage will cut costs, reduce your impact on the environment, and boost your image as a company that cares about the planet. The food and drink industry uses a lot of energy, but the good news is that this means there’s plenty of scope to make things more efficient. The main areas in which energy is used in food and drink businesses are refrigeration, food processing, and heating. You can save energy by:

• Keeping all equipment well-maintained and choosing more energy-efficient appliances
• Regularly checking refrigeration systems, cookers, and boilers for leaks which can increase energy use
• Check that equipment is properly insulated to reduce energy loss
• Don’t leave equipment running when it’s not being used
• Speak to specialists about ways to recover and reuse heat energy generated by boilers and refrigerators