Westbury Dairies in Wiltshire claims to have reduced its water treatment costs by £1,500 a week with a new water recovery system.
A 21.5m high, 15.5t silo, originally owned by Glanbia in Ireland, and capable of storing 300,000l of water, was installed last month as part of a £600,000 investment programme to increase efficiency at the skimmed powder plant, which is capable of processing up to 2.45ml of milk a day.
Westbury is owned and operated as a joint venture by the UK's three leading dairy co-ops: Dairy Farmers of Britain; First Milk; and Milk Link. They took over the plant, which is claimed to be the largest single-site dairy of its type in the country, in September 2003.
Meanwhile, the government-funded Envirowise programme has praised frozen ready meals firm Headland Foods based at Flint in north wales in its Big Splash water conservation challenge.
Using the programme's free help, Headland claimed to have cut water use and effluent by a quarter, leading to savings 10 times greater than the cost of implementation. Water-saving measures included trigger guns and timers on hose pipes and tray washers, recovery of cooling water and a water awareness campaign among staff.
Water saving advice will also be available at IWEX, running from October 18-20 at the NEC Birmingham, where Food Manufacture is sponsoring a seminar on water and effluent management.