Wine Guidance FINAL 010512 AG

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    Case Study: UK Drinks Sector

    Resource efficiency in UK wineproduction

    Minimising water, material and packaging use in the wine sector.

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    Resource efficiency in UK wine production 2

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    Front cover photography:Wine bottles

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    Resource efficiency in UK wine production 3

    Contents

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

    Research Summary .................................................................... 4

    Organic resource .............................................................................. 4

    Product loss avoidance ...................................................................... 6

    Packaging ........................................................................................ 7

    Water use ........................................................................................ 8

    Clean in Place (CIP) .......................................................................... 9

    Waste water ................................................................................... 10

    Conclusions .................................................................................... 11

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    Research Summary

    Wine production in the UK is a very small but growing sector, with over

    3.1 million bottles (of all sizes) produced in 20091. This review focuses

    on the UK production of wine, but also incorporates the 1.2 billion litres

    of bulk wine imported to the UK for bottling (equivalent to 1.6 billion

    bottles)2.

    The Resource Map for wine shown at the end of this review, identifies

    the key inputs for different production stages and the waste and loss

    streams that result.

    Key opportunities to improve resource efficiency from the winery to theback of store are outlined.

    Key opportunities:

    634 tonnes of glass can be conserved by using lighter bottles in line

    with industry best practice

    Large variations in water use between wineries could be addressed

    by better metering supported by a sector-wide benchmarking service

    Addressing productions losses which average 3.5%

    Organic resource

    Over 100 wineries are located in the UK3, most of which are attached to

    vineyards. Yield from vineyards varies depending on numerous factors,

    two key elements being grape variety and ripeness. According to

    industry interviews, yield usually ranges from around 50-60%, but somewineries achieve 70% - resulting in lower volumes of marc (the solid

    grape remains following pressing) produced per litre of wine.

    For the 23,835 hectolitres of wine produced in the UK in 20094,

    approximately 5,000 tonnes of grapes were consumed, resulting in

    1English Wine Producers, Production Statistics 20102WRAP (2008) GlassRite Phase 2

    3English Wine Producers English Wine Production Statistics Available from

    http://www.englishwine producers.com/stats.htm Accessed 20/05/114English Wine Producers, Production Statistics 2010 note: wine produced in the UK

    excluding British wine, and bulk import

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    2,000 tonnes of marc5. Marc, a by-product, is typically disposed of on

    the vineyard, though does not add much value to the soil. An

    opportunity to improve the value of marc exists in controlled

    composting, or with possible use in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics

    sectors6.

    Volumes of marc arising within UK wineries are relatively small and as a

    stand-alone feedstock, little value is seen in the use of anaerobicdigestion (AD). However, where a site has organic arisings from other

    activities, for example, food waste from a restaurant or hotel on-site, or

    where third party facilities could be utilised, then AD may be an option.

    Image 1: Wine bottles

    5UKVA online sustainable wine survey, 2011

    6

    Research from Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, 2011, as reported in Area del VinoAvailable at:http://www.winesur.com/news/wine-wastes-for-the-pharmaceutical-

    industry

    http://www.winesur.com/news/wine-wastes-for-the-pharmaceutical-industryhttp://www.winesur.com/news/wine-wastes-for-the-pharmaceutical-industryhttp://www.winesur.com/news/wine-wastes-for-the-pharmaceutical-industryhttp://www.winesur.com/news/wine-wastes-for-the-pharmaceutical-industryhttp://www.winesur.com/news/wine-wastes-for-the-pharmaceutical-industry
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    Product loss avoidance

    Two key factors which can be associated with the processing losses

    from wine are:

    Losses from the filtration process. For wine this can vary between

    0.5% and 3%7; and

    Residue from flexitanks used for bulk importing. This is typically less

    than 0.5%8

    .

    Filtration losses of UK produced wine plus the residue losses on

    flexitanks of wine imported to the UK can be up to 3.5%9giving rise to a

    product loss of 1.1 million litres.

    To ensure that the appropriate filtration technology is being used it is

    recommended that a review of the existing system be undertaken, in

    terms of:

    clarification quality;

    filtration throughput;

    clogging of filter surfaces; and

    yield loss ().

    Once reviewed, a benchmarking exercise can be undertaken to compare

    the performance of the current system with alternative filtration

    systems. This will include a cost benefit analysis to establish whether the

    capital costs associated with the investment in a new system can be

    offset against the reduction in yield losses.

    Flexitank losses of 0.5% can be considered a major advancement in

    terms of waste prevention since it is reported that an estimated 5% of

    raw material is wasted in traditional packaging formats10, e.g. 200kg

    metal drums. It is however a significant volume in the context of losses

    through bulk importation and it is important to monitor the yield from

    the flexitanks to minimise product losses as far as possible.

    7www.winetech.us/4ep8

    www.myflexitank.com/support.html9WRAP (2011) Product losses in the UK drinks sector

    10Personal communication with David Thornton of IBC manufacturer UCON

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    Image 2: Wine bottling line

    Packaging

    Typical packaging for wine is 75cl glass bottles, though other sizes are

    also available. Some bulk importation wine is also packaged in bags

    (bag-in-box)with a liner bag of metallised or ethylene vinyl alcohol

    (EVOH) based plastic and an outer cardboard box. A very small market

    is also available for PET packaging for events, airline services and other

    niche areas.

    The wine sector has made significant advances in lightweighting, with

    bottles available from 300g, in comparison to the average of 500g in

    200611.Bulk wine importation is associated with low impact packaging,

    but UK manufactured wine still appeared to be sourcing bottles from the

    higher end of the weight range.

    3.17 million bottles of wine were manufactured in the UK and bottled in

    200912. If all bottles were light-weighted to best practice weights, a total

    of 634 tonnes of glass can be conserved. Although this is small for the

    wine sector in total, it is an important area for small manufacturers.

    11WRAP (2008) Delivering Wine Bottle Optimisation and Increased Bulk Importation12English Wine Producers, Production Statistics 2010

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    One of the key barriers found to good practice in packaging was the

    perception that, as small-scale producers, little was achievable through

    innovation. However, several small manufacturers were achieving good

    practice, with an example of innovative pallet design (with removed

    corners, stabilising pallet structure and minimising product loss from

    breakage), apparent at one winery. Several manufacturers stated that

    one way packaging (cardboard) was the only option when sourcing

    materials from overseas, but this appears not always to be the case asthe study found the use of returnable pallets for bottles received from

    France.

    Water use

    Typical water use in wine production is currently 3.2913l/litre of product,

    though limited data is available for UK wineries. UK production is

    typically fairly small and survey evidence14suggests that far higher

    consumption of water is apparent at many small wineries reaching up to

    46l/litre of product. These high figures of water use include domestic

    water. Making allowances for domestic consumption it is estimated that

    water use at wineries is in the range 1.5-14.8l/litre. Little in the way of

    technical advancement was seen in the equipment used primarily

    because of the small scale of production.

    Typically only a single meter for water in, and another for water out,

    was seen for the whole siteincluding vineyard, domestic and

    processing. This made evaluation of water use difficult and addressing

    this would be a first recommendation for the sector. Capital investment

    is limited and this is considered one of the largest barriers, with return

    on metering perceived to be small.

    Meters are varied in style and method of measurement, and can range

    significantly in cost. Mechanical meters can provide fairly a high level of

    accuracy without the costs associated with electromagnetic or ultrasonic

    13

    Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable. Water use benchmarking in thebeverage industry. Trends and observations, 2010

    14UKVA online sustainable wine survey, 2011

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    systems, and are suitable for small wineries to help gain an

    understanding of where on-site high water consumption is in place and

    can be targeted for improvement.

    As well as monitoring water use, creating a water management system

    is critical. This should incorporate targets and continual improvement.

    Water consumption and wastewater creation should be reviewed and

    minimised, as well as treatment of wastewater, to maximise its value.

    Image 3: Wine bottles

    Clean in Place (CIP)

    Manual washing of tanks was found to be in place even at some of the

    larger wineriesusing a significant volume of water. However,

    automated CIP is not necessarily suitable for all wineries, as the scale of

    production can see little return on investment, even with water savings

    realised. Some low cost CIP considerations are listed below:

    optimising plant process design; incorporating the internal recycling of water and chemicals;

    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.

    If production is very low scale, and investment in automated CIP is not

    feasible, there are low cost water conservation practices which can be

    carried out:

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    ensure all staff are made aware of water conservation policies

    including ample signage at taps and hose points etc.;

    minimise use of hoses for cleaning, opting for high pressure, low

    volume spray systems;

    remove product and gross soiling prior to cleaning; and

    install automatic shut-off valves to reduce incidents of water

    needlessly running unattended.

    Waste water

    Respondents to an online survey15carried out on behalf of the United

    Kingdom Vineyards Association (UKVA) suggests that many UK wineries

    dispose of suitable wastewater to private soakaways, with minimal

    organic recovery or treatment. This offers a relatively simple, low impact

    disposal, but does not maximise value obtained from the effluent.

    Volumes of wastewater within UK wineries are typically too small to

    justify development of onsite treatment. Potential opportunities exist if

    the wastewater can be combined with agricultural, or other organic

    waste arisings, or if the winery partnered with organisations in the

    vicinity to secure greater quantities of feedstock that are suitable for

    treatment through AD.

    Water efficiencies within the winery will increase the chemical oxygen

    demand (COD) of the wastewater, as less dilution will occur, offering

    greater value for recovery, but it is also worth considering separating off

    high COD streams (such as those from removing residual marc etc).

    15UKVA online sustainable wine survey, 2011

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    Conclusions

    There are several focal points for maximising resource efficiency within

    the wine sector in the UK and these are listed below.

    Improve monitoring. There was little in-depth understanding of

    water and material consumption onsite at many sites visited, and

    initial metering and improved record keeping is considered a

    necessary first step to help assess areas of opportunity.

    Develop an environmental management system, including

    water use. Once consumption and efficiency in processing is well

    monitored, realistic targets for improvement need to be set and

    reviewed. All staff employed at the site should have the system

    explained to them, and be encouraged to actively input ideas and

    feedback.

    Improved cleaning practices. Ensure staff are trained and aware

    of conservation practices, including minimising use of hoses and

    needless water use.

    Effective wastewater management. Consider means of

    optimising recovery of organic outputs, including separating effluent

    to recover high COD streams.

    Maximise value of organic by-product.Review value gained

    from marc.

    Product loss avoidance. Focus on reducing product loss through

    improved filtration.

    Optimise packaging.Adopting industry best standards in bottleweights particularly by small producers could save 634 tonnes of

    glass

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