Case Study: UK Drinks Sector Resource efficiency in the UK ... drinks guidance FINAL 010512... · Fruits and vegetable juices for soft drink and fruit ... through the DCD™ process

Case Study: UK Drinks Sector

Resource efficiency in the UK soft

drinks sector

Reducing water, material and packaging use in the soft drinks and

fruit juice sector.

Resource efficiency in the UK soft drinks sector 2

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Contents

Contents .................................................................................... 3

Research Review ....................................................................... 4

Water use ........................................................................................ 6

Waste water ..................................................................................... 7

Organic resource .............................................................................. 8

Conclusions .................................................................................... 10


Research Review

Soft drinks1 production in the UK is dominated by two global giants,

Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) and Britvic Soft Drinks. Through the British

Soft Drinks Association Sustainability Strategy both companies have

reported improvements in resource efficiency. Progress has also been

made by many other of the Association’s member companies.

Four Resource Maps have been produced covering carbonated soft

drinks (one for the off-trade and one for the on-trade), still and soft

drinks and fruit juices. Each map shows the key inputs for different

production stages and the waste and loss streams that result. These

maps are included at the end of this review.

The Soft Drinks industry is now producing a ‘Road Map’ to further drive

its work on improving resource efficiency.

This document highlights some of the hotspots of resource consumption

and provides guidance for improving resource efficiency.

Key opportunities

2,380 tonnes of shrink-wrap conserved equates to a sector saving of

£3.4m

Average yield loss of raw ingredients, within the production process

is 7%

Exploring collaborative opportunities with customers to prevent

waste and improve supply chain efficiency

Product losses

Unlike the raw ingredients used for alcoholic drinks, the cost of

ingredients for some soft drinks can be modest and hence production

throughput and on-time delivery are often given priority over yield rates.

Figure below shows that the average yield loss of raw ingredients, within

the production process is 7%, with the three significant causes of yield

losses being: product giveaway, set-up losses and run-down losses.

1 For the purposes of this document, the term ‘soft drinks’ refers to carbonates, juice drinks and

dilutable drinks (squash and cordial). Bottled water is not included in the figures, unless

otherwise stated, but many of the guidance points may be relevant.


Fill efficiencies vary across product lines and packaging formats. This is

a particular issue in packaging formats where the package is sealed prior

to check-weighing, e.g. canned or cartoned drinks, since the products

cannot be readily reworked. Some companies reviewed in this work

often overfill across all packaging formats to ensure reworking and

packaging losses are minimised. Both under- and over-fills can be

caused by numerous factors, though they are mostly linked to inherent

process variability.

It is good practice to run trials to assess process variability (ensuring

first that the check-weigher is accurate and not responsible for incorrect

measuring). If variance is acceptable, the likely reason for inaccuracies

may be human error and staff training may be beneficial. If variance is

high, a more technical reason may be apparent, and a more detailed,

technical review is required in collaboration with the equipment

manufacturer.

Losses at the finished goods stage are the most costly due to the

embedded costs. Product runs seldom match customer order sizes

exactly which could be due to a variety of causes including the

complexities of the production process. As a result part pallets can be

generated that are surplus to requirement. One soft drinks company

surveyed within this study stated that it had agreements with its

customers to place tolerance limits on orders rather than expecting

exact quantities and this approach could be more widely adopted

throughout the sector.

Figure1: An analysis of yield losses within the soft drinks sector


To meet customers’ needs for smaller pack sizes innovation will be

required across the supply chain to ensure that overall packaging use

does not increase.

Typically, primary packaging accounts for over 70% of all the packaging

used within the drinks sector and the light-weighting of primary

packaging is a well proven resource efficiency initiative. However, as in

many sectors, there is typically less focus on secondary and tertiary

packaging than on primary.

Stretch-wrap is used across all sectors to stabilise pallet loads, yet little

attention is given to efficient usage, resulting in excessive plastic

consumption. Within the soft drinks sector, an estimated 2,380 tonnes

of stretch wrap could be saved by improved working practices,

achievable by ensuring the correct equipment is used, staff are trained

and machinery is set up correctly. Based on the April 2011 price of

virgin plastic film, 2,380 tonnes of wrap conserved equates to a sector

saving of £3.4 million.

Water use

Britvic and CCE consume water at approximately 1.4 litres per litre of

product, but outside of these ‘leaders’ the typical water use is currently

2.3l/l (with the exception of fruit juice, which can range between 0.5-

5l/l, largely depending on whether ‘not from concentrate’ (NFC) or

‘concentrate’ is used. Some smaller companies consumed more than

three times the water used by the ‘leaders’, though ‘best in class’ is not

always feasible on a smaller scale. Small companies may still offer a

wide product range but have to manufacture on fewer lines and with

smaller production runs. This requires more frequent wash downs and

lower efficiency than achieved with dedicated lines.

Differentiation has led to the development of large ranges. Where these

exist it is recommended that, to ensure efficiency of production, a

Pareto analysis of sales (quantity of units sold) by stock keeping unit

(SKU) is carried out. If this analysis shows a long ‘tail’, then a large


number of lower-selling SKUs are responsible for a small percentage of

overall sales turn-over (e.g. the top 20 SKUs may cover 80% of sales, so

any SKUs outside this group should be reviewed for their contribution to

overall waste). This may indicate that there is possible scope for product

rationalisation, allowing longer run times, fewer changeovers and less

waste.

Clean In Place (CIP)

CIP is a critical use of water, with organic materials present in fruit juice

in particular requiring more intense cleaning, requiring about 1-2l/l of

product2. Areas to review include:

optimising plant process design;

removing product and gross soiling prior to cleaning;

incorporating the internal recycling of water and chemicals;

staff training;

carefully setting operating programmes, which coincide with the real

cleaning requirements of the process;

minimising detergent loss to drain; and

using water-efficient spray devices.

CIP systems can be complex, especially if multiple systems are in place.

It is recommended that a CIP engineer visit the site to ensure current

systems are working at their optimum to avoid unnecessary investment

in retrofitting newer systems.

Waste water

Wastewater in soft drinks is a heterogeneous mixture of sugars, artificial

sweetener, fruit juice concentrates, flavouring agents, carbon dioxide,

bicarbonates, colouring agents, preservatives and mineral salts used in

manufacturing operations, giving high Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)

levels. It should be treated or diluted before discharge to sewer as

onsite recovery can offer value through anaerobic digestion and

reducing discharge costs.

2 Industry input, 2011


Organic resource

Fruits and vegetable juices for soft drink and fruit juice manufacture are

largely imported, and there is little waste associated with blending

carried out in the UK. For example, UK fruit juice manufacture is largely

based on the importation of fruit juice which is either supplied in

concentrated form to improve transportation efficiencies, with the water

added back in the UK, or in NFC form.

Figure 2: Apples for pressing. Few juices are pressed in the UK, with import of juice or concentrate used for

most soft drinks consumed in the country. Image courtesy of NACM.

The main exception to this is apple juice, where the fruit is grown in the

UK and pressed by several companies within the UK.

The 36,000 tonnes of pulpy remains, or pomace, generated during the

pressing process as a by-product has value as animal feed (some 31,000

tonnes including cider pomace are used this way) or as feedstock for

anaerobic digestion (AD) plants. No pomace is sent to landfill.

The typical yield when pressing harvested apples is around 65%

(although this can be 5-10% lower if clear juice is produced). Yield

rates can be improved with more advanced equipment, with some

companies claiming 70% yields, though this was feasible only on a large

scale, or through more expensive technology such as heat exchangers

or enzyme treatment. Typically, SMEs achieve yields of between 55-65%

for apples, with other fruit and vegetable yields varying, though the

scales of pressing are small.


Figure 3: Packaging to product ratio by pack size

Novel yield technologies are being developed, but are not yet used in

the UK on any commercial scale. For example, Green Cell Technologies’

Dynamic Cellular Disruption (DCD™), was launched in 2010, and claims

to use 100% of fruit for conversion to juice. In trials using apples, pears

and grapes, GCT has obtained 4 litres of juice from 1 kg of fruit and 7

litres of juice from 1 kg oranges. They state that juices produced

through the DCD™ process balance the fructose content and negate the

need for additional sugars. Using this technology, manufacturers are

able to dilute and formulate in ratios as required3. In addition to the

higher yields and advanced nutritional values, because there is zero

waste (as the whole fruit is used), the manufacturer’s carbon footprint is

dramatically reduced. There is no need to send waste to landfill or

alternative diversion routes such as animal feed.

Organic residues are present in cleaning water and the wastewater

which therefore has high (COD). Detail on how to recover value from

this is given in the ‘wastewater’ section in the document.

3 Green Cell Technologies (2010) Invest in future proofed healthy, functional foods Available at

http://www.greencelltechnologies.co.za/news.html (Accessed 17/07/2011)

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Conclusions

There are several focal points for maximising resource efficiency within

the soft drinks sector in the UK and these are listed below:

Improve monitoring. Metering along the production line allows for

understanding of hotspots and detection of leaks. Hotspots of

inefficiency can be targeted and managed.

Improved CIP. Frequent reviewing and improving of CIP is

essential, as developments and improvements are available. Ensure

staff are trained on the details of the system, and ‘cleaning’ is

understood, so systems are not running at levels higher than

necessary.

Monitor fill efficiencies. Equipment maintenance and proper

handling can reduce some fill inefficiencies and reliable fill should

allow the reduction of deliberate giveaway.

Effective wastewater management. Consider effluent separation

to recover value in the organic content of effluent, for example,

utilising for AD.

Maximise value generated from organic by-product. Review

value gained from pomace / organic remnants of harvest where fruit

is processed within the UK.

Present sustainability plan to customers. Multiple retailers have

sustainability strategies and will be open to discussions that reduce

waste and save money for example acceptance of part pallets,

allowing tolerance limits on order size and range reviews.

Secondary packaging. Consider the most efficient use of stretch

wrap and other secondary packaging materials; the focus on

recycling has overshadowed excessive use of resources.



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Case Study: UK Drinks Sector Resource efficiency in the UK ... drinks guidance FINAL 010512... · Fruits and vegetable juices for soft drink and fruit ... through the DCD™ process