Consumer products group Unilever has announced that energy consumption across the group has been reduced by 20% resulting in significant cost savings of €244 million as part of its sustainability strategy.
Among the measures introduced, in the UK Marmite factory some 18,000 tonnes of solid Marmite waste is converted into methane via an anaerobic digester, which is used to provide 30% of the factory’s thermal energy.
Similarly, in South Africa, a bi-product of the seed oil from Flora, Stork, Rama and Rondo products is used as a fuel in the boilers to deliver energy back into the factory, the company says.
Commenting, Unilever Chief Supply Chain Officer, Pier Luigi Sigismondi said: ‘Reducing our energy consumption not only cuts our greenhouse gas emissions – the equivalent in carbon of 800,000 acres of forest each year – but also cuts our costs.
Across our supply chain we are increasingly turning to energy provided by wind, solar and biomass, converting heat from our manufacturing processes into power for our factories.’
