Cadbury Schweppes Pty. Ltd. has implemented a large number of cleaner production initiatives at it's Ringwood Confectionery plant in Victoria. The annual savings from reduced raw material and waste disposal costs amount to $780,000.
- Mr Mark Gurney
- Environmental Manager
- Cadbury Schweppes Pty. Ltd.
- PO Box 200
- Ringwood VIC 3134
- Ph: 61 3 9210 1300
- Fax: 61 3 9870 9072
Cadbury Schweppes Pty. Ltd.'s plant in Ringwood, Victoria produces a range of confectionery products, including Easter eggs, chocolate bars and other chocolate coated items. The plant currently produces more than 25,000 tonnes per annum of chocolate products, including the brand names Cherry Ripe, Crunchy Bar and Red Tulip.
The Cadbury Schweppes Plant, Ringwood
As the plant specialises in the manufacture of chocolate confectionery, there is a requirement for a large range of different production processes. The precursor to manufacturing the various confectioneries is the production of chocolate. The base chocolate is produced from milk, cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, sugar and emulsifiers. It is then further processed to make products such as Easter eggs, chocolate bars, coated nuts and moulded products (such as the Freddo Frog).
Participation in the joint Victorian Environment Protection Authority - Business Victoria Cleaner Production Demonstration Program in 1992 provided a big impetus in setting a clear direction for cleaner production. Cadbury Schweppes identified many opportunities for improvements based on the introduction of a few simple and innovative techniques to minimise waste.
These cleaner production initiatives included:
- Recycling of solid waste -
An overall factory mass balance was undertaken and operations reviewed to identify all possible sources of solid waste generation. A number of recyclable wastes were identified, and systems implemented to separate these from the solid waste stream. The recycling rate has increased from approximately 5 per cent to over 50 per cent.
- Reuse of food wrappers -
Collection and conversion of waste food wrappers into plastic pallets used for in-house product storage.
- Pipe insulation -
Insulation of 2 km of pipework and 12 storage tanks used for chocolate has reduced heat loss, internal air conditioning loads and eliminated the need to upgrade the hot water system (the chocolate is held at 43 degrees celsius while the factory is air conditioned to 23 degrees celsius).
- Boiler enclosure -
Enclosing the boilers has reduced external noise and improved the boiler efficiency by up to 5 per cent. Enclosing the boiler has also reduced maintenance costs.
- Trade waste reduction -
Specially designed wash bays, automatic nozzles on hoses, automatic taps and utensil washers have contributed to significant reduction in raw water usage. As a consequence the volume of trade waste has reduced from 600 kl/day to 150 kl/day.
- Dust Collection -
Installation of a CSIRO designed cyclone for recovering fine sugar dust has eliminated the problem of cleaning filter bags. In addition to improved collection efficiency, this has eliminated the water washing of filter bags with a consequent reduction in trade waste load.
- Solid chocolate moulding -
Optimisation of the moulding parameters has improved the material yield.
- Caramel extrusion -
Optimisation of material use, handling and process parameters has improved weight control and reduced material wastage.
The benefits to Cadbury Schweppes from these cleaner production initiatives have been substantial. The cost savings from a number of selected projects, along with the overall cost savings from the total cleaner production program are outlined in the following table.
ECONOMIC BENEFITS
Initiative Costs Savings, p.a. Solid waste recycling $ 20,000 $ 80,000 Pipe insulation $ 70,000 $ 30,000, plus avoided capital expenditure Chocolate moulding nil $30,000 Caramel extrusion $330,000 $185,000 Overall annual savings $ 780,000 Payback period less than 16 months
Cadbury is committed to implementing best management practices, and views cleaner production as part and parcel of its operations. For these reasons the adoption of cleaner production initiatives was consistent with Cadbury's overall management direction.
Cadbury Schweppes has a work culture which encourages and supports inputs from the shop floor employees. Employees are now taking the initiative to change their work practices so as to reduce the amount of waste generated. For example, the majority of production waste is now removed in solid form in preference to discharging to the effluent waste stream and increasing the load on the trade waste system.
The main barrier that Cadbury faced was in the early stages of the implementation of cleaner production. Cadbury had investigated a number of cleaner production initiatives, but in a fairly unstructured manner. This was overcome by participation in the Cleaner Production Demonstration Program in 1992.
Case Study Prepared: February 1997 by ACCP
The Cleaner Production Case Studies Directory is part of EnviroNET Australia.
- For more information contact:
Environment Australia
Environment Protection Group
PO Box E305
KINGSTON ACT 2604
AUSTRALIA
Email: cproduction@ea.gov.au
URL: http://www.environment.gov.au/net/environet.html
