More for less

What price sustainability? There was uproar in the media and from trade union Unison when Redditch councillors backed plans to channel heat from the crematorium – which would otherwise be lost – to heat the new swimming pool next door. Local supporters, however, far outweighed objectors. Taxpayers can presumably see the sense of a 4% reduction in the council's carbon footprint and projected savings of £466,000 over 25 years when others cannot. In fact, industry could probably learn from Redditch. "We are finding a lot of organisations where [carbon footprint reduction] just isn't moving up the agenda quickly enough – and it probably won't until their stakeholders or their customers demand the information or legislation forces them," maintains Joanna Santander, business development manager for carbon reduction services at Achilles. Achilles developed CEMARS (Certified Emissions Measurement and Reduction Scheme) which acts as a guidance and framework for companies intent on improving their environmental performance. It is recognised by the Environment Agency as an early action metric for the mandatory Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC). Santander believes CRC is helping to drive the whole sustainability issue up to board level. It remains to be seen if this interest stays as strong now the coalition is retaining money from the sale of allowances instead of recycling it to CRC participants, as originally planned. British factories are littered with signs telling people to turn out lights and recycle their coffee cups. But far fewer use a bit of lateral thinking to find new ways of harbouring their resources. Just over a year ago, four leading manufacturing academics wrote a report calling for collaborative efforts by academics, industrialists and policy makers to create a sustainable, global industrial system (see box, p39). It is a good, thought-provoking read that takes no prisoners in showing what we are up against: "The footprint of the industrial system has expanded several fold in the last 50 years, supporting an improved quality of life for an ever increasing population. The industrial footprint however now exceeds the globally available bio-capacity. If we are to live within our resources while still achieving acceptable living standards, our industrial systems need to undergo radical change." The report demands significant changes to the way industry thinks, including a complete reassessment of the full cycle of designing, making and serving. It calls for step changes in performance of the industrial system as a whole. The authors quote Einstein: "The thinking it took to get us into this mess is not the same thinking that is going to get us out of it." So who is actually matching up to their challenge? Sri Lanka's Brandix Group – which supplies Marks and Spencer – proves that it is possible to make even an old factory 'green'. It redesigned its 30-year-old factory to cut carbon emissions by 80%, reduce water consumption by 58%, save 46% of its energy consumption and send zero solid waste to landfill. It adopted a mixed bag of measures: replacing tarred roads with paving blocks to reduce heat build up around the factory, thus saving on air conditioning; installing an intelligent control centre to regulate carbon dioxide and humidity levels for an optimum working environment; using special glass to channel sunlight without heat into work spaces; and redesigning steam boilers and steam distribution systems. New rainwater percolation pits allow water to soak back into the ground, replenishing the water table, and rainwater is harvested from the roof to serve all uses except drinking water; a tertiary filtration and disinfection system means even used water can be recycled for toilet flushing and gardening. An electric-powered car delivers samples between plants and hauls stock within the factory, sourcing its energy from the plant's windmill. The factory recycles and reuses 100% of the solid waste produced. Even canteen waste is composted to contribute to biogas generation that powers gas burners in the kitchens. It's a remarkable achievement. Even better, however, are those companies using the by-products of one process as the raw materials of another. No UK business has done more to build sustainability into the bedrock of its entire operation than British Sugar. From its bases in the east of England and the East Midlands, it has developed a highly integrated method of manufacturing aimed at using raw materials efficiently and responsibly. It has added extra steps to the sugar production process to capture and reuse every part of its raw materials. Its factories extract over one million tonnes of sugar annually from home-grown sugar beet. Upon arrival, sugar beet passes through machinery which catches stones, but allows the beet to float over the top. The beet is washed and soil and weeds are also captured. Stones are recycled for building materials, soil for landscaping and compost vegetation, while lime is used for soil conditioning, sold under the LimeX brand. Beet growers can drop off their sugar beet and collect a backload of LimeX at the same time. After sugar is extracted and crystallised, the remaining fibre is dried and compressed into animal feed pellets. Residual syrup is separated, generating three more products; a sugar stream, betaine (for healthcare products) and raffinate (for animal feed supplements). In 2007, it opened the UK's first bioethanol plant at its Wissington factory using the same residual syrup as a feedstock. Today, it produces 55,000 tonnes of renewable fuel each year. Using power from Wissington's onsite combined heat and power (CHP) plant and fed through its existing sugar operations, the award-winning plant offers a CO2 emissions saving of over 70% relative to petrol when measured on a full lifecycle basis. Over the last 20 years, it has invested £1 billion in sustainable manufacturing, installing new technology in energy efficiency, gas and water treatment. It even uses combustion gases and recovered heat from Wissington's CHP plant to grow 140 million tomatoes annually. British Sugar produces 2.3 million tonnes of products every year while generating less than 4,000 tonnes of waste. Sugar beet contains a large amount of embedded water – over 5.5 million tonnes in the 7.5 million purchased by British Sugar every year. It extracts and uses it – beet supplies over 60% of the water in its processes. Classified into type and suitability, it is used for cleaning, heating, cooling and transportation (beet floats in water). All of the water it receives is reused within its manufacturing process, returned to source or evaporated to air as steam. Evaporation and crystallisation processes inevitably have a high-energy requirement. All factories contain CHP plants that match anything in the oil, chemical and power industries for complexity. Last year, in addition to meeting over 94% of its own electricity requirements, the CHP plants generated a further 700,000 MW hours which were exported to the local grid. British Sugar has installed advanced gas turbines the size of jet engines in the Wissington and Bury CHP plants. It can now extract around 80% of the energy contained within fossil fuel during a production campaign – double the amount extracted by a conventional power station. There is a constant programme of continuous improvement. Since 1990 it has achieved a 25% reduction in the amount of energy it uses to produce a tonne of sugar, while simultaneously increasing its range of co-products. It has adopted a number of rigorous targets and is seeking to realise a 30% reduction in the amount of energy used to produce a tonne of sugar by 2020. It didn't all come at once. A British Sugar spokesperson says that it took a long hard look at manufacturing processes that had been developed over many years, before identifying priorities based on visibility and knowledge. For example, it established its recovered topsoil as a leading brand before it recognised it could also harness low grade heat to grow tomatoes: "We always have products in mind, but the great thing about linking our integrated manufacturing model with the marketplace is that it often sparks innovation," she explains. Every advance in sustainability has also made a positive contribution to the business. Its eco-friendly tomato growing business has been expanded three times, demonstrating "that some of our projects are evolution rather than revolution". So what advice would British Sugar give smaller manufacturers bent on sustainability? "Audit existing processes, examine your outputs, and see whether you can turn these into marketable products," she explains. "It's not a route open to everybody but small changes yield major bottom-line bonuses." Small changes are open to everyone, not just big businesses like British Sugar. A Cumbrian tile manufacturer of just three people developed a successful new product line using recycled glass. Carlton Designs was experiencing problems in both its manufacturing processes and in sourcing its raw material. Lean and sustainable often go hand in hand: working with Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS), Carlton reduced its total production time from 26 hours to 20 minutes. At the same time, MAS referred it to Envirolink Northwest to advise on the availability of recycled glass particles from local suppliers as feedstock materials in different colours. The result is producing keen interest in building products companies as part of their own recycled product range. Initial sales have been boosted by £3,000 and Carlton has saved £2,000 in energy costs in just six months. Joanna Santander says companies are often surprised at how easy it is to make quick wins. Achilles' customer Alstom, which provides systems to power generators, picked out just a few areas where relatively simple changes have brought both efficiency gains and a quick return on investment (ROI). Ensuring that all its equipment is timed, adjusted and aligned with shift patterns gave a very swift return for almost no outlay. Installing variable speed drives on motors and compressors gave ROI in under six months. Changing its lighting system by installing passive infrared sensors, swapping high pressure light bulbs for T5s and again aligning use with shift patterns took longer but still brought returns in one to two years. Even new energy management systems saw ROI within two years. The key to making it all happen is twofold – senior management commitment and staff awareness. The four professors come to a compelling conclusion: "We argue that those industrial organisations that predict and plan for a sustainable future are likely to survive into the next generation. Learning how to use significantly less material and energy to create the same or better customer value, while creating little or no waste is not only a sensible long-term strategy but a compelling argument in today's volatile world. Such businesses will be resilient to some of the forces bearing upon them. The moment for significant action is now."