CEREAL giant Kellogg’s has been granted a self-supply water and sewage licence at its Manchester site by Ofwat.
Kellogg’s has been making cereals like Crunchy Nut, Coco Pops, Rice Krispies and Corn Flakes at its factory in Manchester since 1938.
The self-supply model has been granted on four sites: the manufacturing plant and three warehouses.
Paul Wrigley, plant director at the Kellogg’s Manchester site, commented on the decision to apply for the licence in an earlier statement.
“After looking at our options, we decided that having a water self-supply licence will help us meet our water reduction targets faster as we will have complete control over and trust in our data”, Mr Wrigley said.
“It is important to us that we work with the Waterscan team of experts through the self-supply process. The company’s innovative and forward-thinking approach is very similar to our own company values.”
With the introduction of a self-supply model Kellogg’s want to take control over its water use, deal directly with the wholesaler and build on the success of its water management program.
Waterscan will act as Kellogg’s managing agent taking on the role and responsibilities for the water retail functions, provide technical support and work to find further water efficiency savings for the company.
Neil Pendle, Managing Director of Waterscan, commented on the partnership in an earlier statement: “With water such a big focus and something the company is proactively committed to managing at all times, we are confident that working together with Kellogg’s to self-supply will build on the success of its water management programme to date.”
Now that the self-supply licence has been granted, Kellogg’s has greater control over its trade effluent discharge, can generate savings by paying wholesale prices and have voting rights which will give large-scale manufacturing organisations a greater customer voice in the water marketplace.
Water reduction is a central part of Kellogg’s global 2020 sustainability commitments because of the nature of its operations and Kellogg’s recognises that growing water scarcity is a global risk for communities around the world where it sources ingredients and manufactures food.
The company has set targets to drive down water usage by 15 per cent against a 2015 baseline.
With the Manchester plant being such a large operation, any reductions that can be made here will have ‘a significant effect’ on reaching this goal.
More and more high water-consuming organisations are choosing to self-supply in the open water market.
Ofwat has previously granted licences to businesses such as John Lewis, Greene King, Whitbread, Marston’s, Stonegate Pub Company, Heineken, Coca Cola European Partners, Ellis, BT, as well as the Blackpool Council.
According to Waterscan, ‘considerable positive impacts are being seen as a result, clearly demonstrating what customers can achieve.’
For example, Greene King, Whitbread, Marston’s and Stonegate Pub Company have together saved 392,315m³ since they switched to self-supply, the equivalent of over 690 million pints.
The original licence was granted on 21st of October.
