The brewers, headquarted in Bury St Edmunds in England's East Anglian region, worked with independent water management consultancy Waterscan to deliver significant efficiencies in water consumption. The initiative won the Water Efficient Project of the Year award at the Energy Awards and highlights how accurate data and a clear strategy when it comes to water can result in significant financial and sustainability benefits.
Greene King engaged with Waterscan to also support enhanced social responsibility across its former Spirit Pub Company estate.
Waterscan used its online water management system, Waterline© as an integral part of its strategy for Greene King. Waterline establishes a clear picture of performance, and is helpful for multi-site organisations since the data generated helps identify high consumption sites versus a site appropriate baseline.
Such sites can then be audited to fully understand where the issues lie, and then at a corporate level, it's possible to analyse risks and opportunities for improvement. Finally, by considering a variety of operational scenarios and deploying the latest technologies, Waterscan proposes a strategy in line with business goals and continues to monitor performance through its Waterline system.
The strategy is claimed by Waterscan to be a first in the pub and restaurant arena.
149 audits of high-consuming pubs were conducted by Waterscan technicians and these highlighted opportunities for greater efficiency. Waterscan identified and fixed leaks on supply and internal pipework, fixed faulty water storage tanks, taps, urinal controls and toilets and also resolved shared supply and meter reading issues. Overall, Greene King's water consumption was reduced by 173,000m3 (12.13%) – or 304 million pints over a three year period, versus a 2012 baseline across this part of their estate.
"The pub sector employs over 1 million people and contributes £20 billion to the economy. Over 107,000,000 pints of beer were served to customers each year across the former Spirit portfolio of 1,400 pubs. These volumes demonstrate that pubs are a great place to start making a significant difference to the environment," commented Claire Yeates, Director at Waterscan. She continued: "Our approach for this project pushed the boundaries of traditional water management in the sector by setting targets for reduction and thinking holistically about all water associated risks,"
Gavin Worthington, Purchasing Manager for Greene King added: "This water project was as an integral part of our corporate social responsibility programme. Once we had meaningful data, we set a consumption reduction target of 12% for 2015 against a 2012 baseline and we were delighted to surpass this."
He continued: "We now work together in partnership with the Waterscan team and have much better management of water in our business. The comprehensive strategic approach delivers against defined annual targets and performance is tracked to ensure success. As a result, our data has improved dramatically and leaves us well placed ahead of market deregulation."
Waterscan also works with many multi-site operations including Sainsburys, Tesco, The Co-operative, Argos, Whitbread and KFC.
LINKS
Waterscan
Greene King - Wikipedia
Greene King - official site
Water Efficient Project - Energy Awards
