Robert Wiseman Dairies Major Commendation BCE Awards 2009

Robert Wiseman Dairies procures, produces and delivers liquid milk to customers throughout Great Britain from its seven major processing dairies and 14 depots. It also produces other products such as cream and orange juice. In 2008, the company had a turnover of nearly £722 million.

A student from the Business Environmental Partnership spent 8 weeks conducting two waste audits and mapped the waste stream at the companys Belshill Dairy. The findings of the study enabled the dairy to increase its recycling rate from 18% in July 2007 to 90% in July 2008. This huge reduction in waste to landfill not only reduced the landfill costs for the site, but also its carbon footprint. Other dairies in the company followed this example, which means the business as a whole is well on the way to sending zero waste to landfill. The distribution depots are also segregating waste and sending it to the nearest dairy.

There will always be a small fraction of the waste that cannot be recycled. The company is looking at ways of diverting this from landfill by considering in-vessel composting, energy recovery and pyrolysis. One site is in the process of commissioning a small-scale pyrolysis unit that reduces 8 kg of waste to 150 g of ash, which will go with the site effluent to the effluent treatment plant. If successful, this site will be the first in the company to achieve zero waste to landfill.

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• 2009