SUSTAINABLE PROCESSING REPORT KEEPS DAIRY ON TRACK Business group: VCI Program: Resource Management o First environmental benchmarks for dairy processing The Australian dairy industry has committed to develop a sustainability benchmark following the launch of an inaugural dairy processing environmental report in June 2007. The industry will report regularly on gains made in water and chemicals use, gas emissions and packaging, as well as complaints over noise and odour from factories. The dairy industry has always taken responsibility for its role in protecting natural resources. But prior to this report, there had been no industry-wide picture of how manufacturers were reducing their impact on the environment and how they were performing. Dairy Australia instigated the State of the Environment Report to help dairy processing companies establish a clear benchmark to compare their environmental performance. Dairy companies representing almost 75 per cent of all the milk processed in Australia participated in the survey. These included Bega Cheese, Bonlac Foods, Burra Foods, Dairy Farmers, Fonterra, Murray Goulburn, National Foods, Parmalat, Tatura Milk Industries and Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory Company. The survey was carried out by the UNEP Working Group for Cleaner Production in the Dairy Industry at the University of Queensland under the auspices of the Dairy Manufacturers Sustainability Council chaired by Dairy Australia. The data covered production of all dairy products and included production for the domestic and export markets. Analysis of the inaugural data shows that processors used 10,000 megalitres of water per year and recycled more than 2,000 megalitres with the expectation that water usage will fall in the coming year. Energy use is also expected to drop, as is the greenhouse gas benchmark of 94.3 tonnes per million litres of milk processed. Waste water, measured in ratio to raw milk handled, ranged from 0.4 to 3.2, indicating a clear opportunity for improvement in reducing waste water volumes. The report also detailed complaints received by factories, primarily about odour or noise. Milk factories receive 0.02 complaints per each million litres of milk produced. Dairy Australia, with the help of partners such as Sustainability Victoria, is committed to repeating the survey in 2009.
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