Nestlé's £35M factory is now up and running
The new factory claimed to be one of Europe's most innovative and efficient bottling facilities features four new lines with a theoretical 1bn bottle capacity.
The facility combines a bottling plant and warehouse. Ninety people are employed in the factory with a further 30 in the warehouse. The new lines allow Nestlé Waters UK to significantly reduce its total energy output, as well as the packaging used in its bottles.
The project has enabled the company to promote sustainable development practices and the factory is hoping to achieve a high grading later this year when it applies for BREEAM certification for buildings. BREEAM takes into consideration the site's energy and water use as well as its transport infrastructure and its ecology.
Ambition
Paolo Sangiorgi, md, Nestlé Waters UK, said: "I am delighted to see the first bottles of Buxton Natural Mineral Water and Nestlé Pure Life come off the lines fewer than 12 months after we started building our new factory. Waterswallows has enabled us to pursue our ambition to promote sustainable development practices in the construction and production processes operated there."
The factory has been designed to harmonise with its surroundings and features recycled Derbyshire dry stone walls, which are used to reinstate field patterns and define site boundaries.
Bottling lines
A sustainable drainage system manages the rain water that runs off from the new site, while a heat recovery system also transfers heat generated from the bottling lines to heat the warehouse and offices.
The site will enable Nestlé Waters to continue to decrease the water used in its manufacturing and, by the end of 2012, it will also be zero waste to landfill.
Start of production also saw the launch of an innovative lightweight range of bottles. Via its redesign, Nestlé Waters has achieved an average 25% reduction in the use of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in its production with a 46% reduction in PET for the smaller 25cl and 33cl bottles.
