Our ongoing operational excellence programs aim to make improvements that support our sustainability objectives. This is achieved through the use of better technology, operational efficiencies and greater awareness. These programs are embedded in our CSM strategy and are part of our overall ambitions. Our main focus areas are energy efficiency, water reduction, waste reduction and to make our packaging more sustainable. To meet our objectives in these areas, in 2011 we established working groups with members from each division. Over the last year, these groups placed a strong focus on developing a better understanding of usage and impacts over the range of applications, sharing best practices, and developing long term project plans to meet the 2016 objectives. Also, a variety of improvement measures were implemented, which are described below.
Energy reductions in our Bakery DivisionDuring 2010, a complete review of energy and water consumption and reduction efforts for all sites was completed. We have reduced the amount of consumed kilowatt hours throughout multiple facilities. An optimization of air compressors to reduce electrical energy use was carried out at several sites. Both our Bischheim and Manchester sites replaced sub-optimally used compressors with more efficient screw compressors which adapt to all loads, representing energy savings of 80 and 90Mwh, respectively. At our Atlanta plant, optimizing the condenser configuration to include an ammonia condenser increased efficiencies significantly, saving more than 600 Mwh.
The retrofit of existing light systems to energy efficient bulbs, reflectors, ballasts and replacing obsolete fixture is an exampleof an ongoing focus in North America. Motion sensors to regulate lighting are used to turn on only when activity is taking place in a certain area. Our Gerlenhofen site implemented a strict plan to eliminate air leakages, achieving 200 Mwh in savings. Other improvements include shifting from heating fuel to natural gas for our boilers, replacing traditional bulbs with LED bulbs (representing an annual 800 Mwh saving). Our Crema site achieved significant energy reductions through the replacement of its steam generator (representing an annual 1200 Mwh saving).
Overall, these energy savings of almost 3000 Mwh are significant, representing approximately the annual electricity consumption of approximately 750 families of four people. Additionally, our sites are introducing tools to accurately track energy use (Sankey 0diagrams) and rollout activities to optimize energy use, such as through reduced losses, improved insulation, process changes, and weekend condition optimization. Also, improved management systems, such as the implementation of an Energy Management System (EMS) to control time and temperature automatically have significantly reduced gas use.
Water reductions in our Bakery DivisionIn North America, the amount of water usage has been reduced over the last year. For example, utilizing a vendor relationship, we identified the most effective sanitation chemical requiring a smaller volume of water to achieve the same outcome. Using a lower water volume requires less steam to heat the water, which also decreases the amount of natural gas used. This led to a reduction of over 14% in water usage in 2011. In our Crema site, we have successfully reduced the amount of water used over the last several years. This is a result of increased sensitivity towards water use and technical measures. Between 2007 and 2011, the water use was decreased by almost 50%. The improved maintenance of pipes and condensers, installation of automatic valves, pumps, and controllers, as well switching from water to air cooling made this possible. Also, our Bischheim site reduced water consumption by 33% over the last year through the careful planning of production activities and a compressor replacement.
Water and Energy reductions in PuracPurac started the construction of two anaerobic waste water treatment plants for lactic acid plants in Brazil and Thailand. Not only do these state of the art water treatment systems clean waste water in an efficient way, but they also generate a very interesting byproduct: biogas. Bacteria in these anaerobic waste water treatment systems convert the organic material in the waste water into methane gas. This gas is collected and sent to Purac's steam boilers, replacing up to 10% of the natural gas required to run the plant. With this technology, Purac will burn less fossil fuel and build on its already strong position as a sustainable producer of Lactic Acid and Derivatives. Both plants are expected to come on line in the summer of 2012.
Purac plants across the globe have historically been state of the art with respect to the efficient use and re-use of water and energy, implementing industry best practices with regard to evaporation and energy use. The reuse of vapors increases the efficiency of our evaporators and reduces our steam requirements to a fraction of what is needed from a straight energy balance perspective. In addition, Purac designs its facilities to maximize heat recovery and minimize the total energy necessary to convert sugar or dextrose to lactic acid. Reclaiming the heat from various streams means also reclaiming the water containing this heat, which is recovered and reused at other locations in the facility, such as in fermentation. This means that Purac manages to achieve multiple uses from its water before it is disposed, reducing the amount of fresh water used by 60%.
Packaging improvementsFor us, packaging is a key focus area in our sustainability efforts. Packaging plays several roles for us. It provides protection and preserves product quality over the supply chain. It may serve a communication role, must be convenient at the usage level and enable responsible disposal. Our work on more sustainable packaging looks not only at packaging weight, but also packaging material and packaging design. Packaging design is also an important element in our considerations, as avoiding food waste typically has a greater environmental impact than the packaging itself.
Over the last years, we have reviewed our packaging solutions in terms of functional fit for purpose and identified optimization projects to reduce packaging weight and increase cost efficiency. In the last year we executed several projects involving increasing the recyclable content, optimizing packaging sizes and using more sustainable materials. We reduced the thickness of our margarine wrappers by 14% at our sites in Merksem, Crema and Delmenhorst. We have redesigned our pails to reduce their weight by 3%. For several sites, we reduced the thickness of bags for both manual and automated applications significantly by moving from LDPE to HDPE and making better use of our suppliers' improved extrusion technology. At our Delmenhorst site, we switched from folding carton to corrugated wrap packaging, reducing packaging weight by more than 400 tons. Also we switched from plastic polystyrene-based trays to paper trays in our Wirral and Aartselaar sites. This resulted in a significant reduction of our carbon footprint by more than 600 tons CO2 equivalent.
Size optimization for primary and secondary packaging saved another 80 tons of packaging material and in some cases we could transport more units per pallet and thus reduce the amount of trucks on the roads. Overall, these improvements, besides being cost effective, resulted in the reduction of plastic by more than 100 tons and paper by more than 500 tons. This combined with the other projects lowered our carbon footprint by more than one thousand tons CO2 equivalent. Further packaging projects are in the pipeline, targeting further weight reduction, increase recycled content and moving to more sustainable materials.
Waste reductionWe have continued our strategic focus on packaging and recycling. In North America, multiple sites were able to increase the amount of paper, cardboard, and plastic that was recycled instead of being sent to the local landfills. For example, one site in North America partnered with the local waste services to determine that cake mix bags are considered as recyclable materials. This project resulted in three thousand additional bags recycled per day as well as an additional cost savings from the reduction of bags being sent to the landfill. Our European sites have been working with the principle of zero based waste for more than 2 years. In 2011, we have realized a significant reduction in raw material losses of 17% in Bakery Products and 8% in Ingredients. The reduction is a result of many local projects dealing with change over sequences, cleaning order, weight control and more focus on accurate measurements and daily control. Additionally, better analysis of our inventories has resulted in optimal production run-lengths which reduces the technical waste associated with changeovers between products.