Green Business case study
Sector: Food and Drink
Name: Atlanfish Ltd
Location: Carndonagh, Co Donegal
Aims of this project
Atlanfish Ltd, based in Carndonagh, Co. Donegal is a leading processor of Irish seafood products. The project goals included the reduction in water usage by 25%; the reduction in energy usage by 5%; and the reduction in raw material wastage by 2%. The company plans to achieve these targets by employing best practice techniques used by other industries, that at the moment are not commonly used within the fish industry.
Project description
The project at Atlanfish aimed to study and monitor the consumption of natural resources and implement process improvements to reduce waste.
The company carried out a series of environmental audits to identify waste prevention and reduction opportunities. These audits focused on reducing the usage of raw materials, as well as seeking energy, water and solid waste reduction opportunities. Through the auditing of the information generated by the production management system and studies of water and energy use throughout the process, a number of process improvements were implemented.
These included the refitting of process cooling vessels and the installation of a centralised washing system to reduce water use and the lagging of steam pipes to reduce energy losses. These improvement opportunities were prioritised, based on the potential savings to the company, with an emphasis on reductions in raw material usage.
Other changes were made to the purchasing system to encourage fishermen to return underweight or sub-standard material back to the sea and re-use rejected material as bait.
Achievements and lessons
The main focus of the project has been on reducing raw material usage. During the project, the amount of raw mussels used has decreased by 0.25%, equivalent to a reduction in waste volume of 1.2%.
Also, the percentage of material that can be used as top grade product has increased by nearly 5%, which indicates the better quality of raw materials being supplied. The volume of water used has decreased from 20.34 m3/tonne of product to 15.10 m3/tonne of product. This is a reduction of 25.8% and is as expected due to the changes in the cooling and cleaning processes. The project hoped to reduce energy use by around 5%. However, no real gains have been made as the energy saved from lagging the steam pipes and operating the boiler more efficiently have been counter acted by the installation of new plant on-site.
Due to the reduction in the volume of raw material used per unit of product, the company has been able to reduce the volume of organic waste produced by 10.1%. This results in a saving of around €4065 per annum in recycling costs despite more raw materials entering the factory and becoming part of the finished product. The reduction in water usage results in savings of approximately €7500 per annum. Energy costs have actually risen during the project due to the installation of new plant and large increases in unit energy prices.
More information
For more information on this project please contact Gareth Gallagher, Atlanfish, Station House, Malin Road, Carndonagh, Co. Donegal, Ireland, telephone 00 353 (0) 7493 74285 or fax 00 353 (0) 7493 74685. Email: gareth@atlanfish.com
Source: Cleaner Greener Production Programme