Coca-Cola Amatil’s (CCA) Richlands site in Brisbane has reduced water consumption by almost 20 per cent from 2004 to 2006, despite a production increase of 11 per cent.

The team at Richlands has embraced a culture in which water saving is considered a necessity, not a luxury.

Water saving efforts at the site are based on the following principles: Eliminate, Reduce, and Recycle.

• Outfitting the machines that rinse the beverage bottles before filling to recirculate water. Pure water is only used for the final rinsing, or the last 25 per cent of the jets over which the bottles pass. The water is then collected and used for preliminary rinsing in the first 75 per cent of the water jets.
  • Savings = approximately 20 million litres per year.
• The rinser nozzles have been changed from 4mm to 2mm.
  • Savings = 12 million litres a year.
• Extensive treatment of all product water is provided by a Nano Filtration Plant with subsequent membrane discharge water further treated in a reverse osmosis plant before product use.
  • Savings = around 7 million litres of water per year.
• Recycled water is used in warmers for the CSDs.
  • Savings = around 7 million litres of water per year.
• Recycled water from the rinsers is used for the cooling towers, truck wash area, toilets, floor hose down reels and the gardens.
• Installation of dual flush toilets and water saving showerheads across the site, and every tap on site is fitted with an aqualock flow regulator