Nestlé announces $2million Gympie water savings

New technology at the Gympie factory where Nescafe instant coffee is made will stop about 18 Olympic sized swimming pools of water from being taken out of the Mary River each year. Here is how it works:

About 18 Olympic sized swimming pools of water will remain in the Mary River after the fitting of a water filtration system at the Gympie Nestlé factory.

Since its beginnings 70 years ago, the factory has been one of the biggest employers in Gympie, and produces the well-known brand of instant coffee, Nescafe.

The newly installed filtration system means used factory water can be recycled and reused on site, rather than extracting more from Gympie’s water supply

“We are taking a stream of used factory water and sending it through our new treatment and filtration process to be able to reuse it, or our site cooling towers,” Nestlé engineering manager Mick Purvis said.

Nestle reveals its water savings as $2million filtration technology allows its Gympie factory to recycle and reuse water, leaving around 18 Olympic sized swimming pools a year in the Mary River. Picture: Supplied

“This gives us the saving of around 45 million cubic metres of water each year, which is around 20 per cent of our factory water consumption, and equivalent to about 18 50m swimming pools each year,” he said.

While the MBR (membrane bioreactor) technology Nestlé has implemented is a standard filtration method around the world, the use of it in the Nescafe factory in Gympie applies the technology differently, and on a much larger scale.

“This one is specifically for the Gympie factory here as we have identified a stream of water that is able to be recycled, which is why we’ve put this technology in and focused on that water stream,” Mr Purvis said.

Working to improve Nestle’s environmental impact is something that project engineer Brooke McGrath, who began her career at the company’s Gympie factory as a graduate engineer after studying chemical and biological engineering, is passionate about.

Project engineer Brooke McGrath began her career at the Nestle Gympie factory as a graduate engineer after studying chemical and biological engineering is passionate about implementing and improving environmental sustainability.

“Natural resources are obviously very precious and it's important for any company, especially one of the size of Nestle to have a focus on sustainability to make sure we have a positive impact on communities and minimise any impacts we do have on the environment,” Ms McGrath said.

The filtration device will herald a new era for Nestle and the town’s water supply, as previously all the water used in the factory was drawn locally.

“It reduces the amount of local water we use, reduces the amount of used water that needs to be treated by council, and reduces pressure on local water supplies, especially during drier seasons,” Gympie factory manager Steve Taljaard said.

Nestle Australia said the water savings project built on a range of initiatives to improve the Gympie factory’s environmental performance, which included:

Using 100 per cent responsibly sourced coffee beans in all its products, renewable sources for more than 80 per cent of the factory’s energy needs, from waste coffee grounds, sawdust, and wind to sending zero waste to landfill site for the past three years.

Originally published as Nestlé announces $2million Gympie water savings