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Best practices

This section compiles a database of more than 200 resource efficiency measures that were identified using the TEST methodology and successfully implemented within several industries across many sectors. The measures are classified by sector and subsector, type (good housekeeping, process control/modification, technology change, etc.), category of resource savings (water, energy and/or materials), scope and applicability (process or utilities). The database enables the use of predefined filters including the possibility to use keywords for an advanced search.

Each measure in the database includes a description of the problem, a technical description of the solution, the economic and environmental benefits quantified for the specific company case, the costs and the expected return on investment, suppliers of equipment as well as other aspects related to safety, maintenance, productivity and technical implementation.

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Improve separation of rejects before processing

To recycle PET plastic material, the raw material has to be cleaned of dirt, labels and caps. The production line starts with a grinding and washing process, followed by sorting stations to remove all undesirable contamination. Installing a pre-sorting station prior to raw material feed to the washing line, served in increasing the production throughput. That pre-sorting station served to remove the sand, dust, fine particles, and partially remove the labels from the input material.

Sector: Materials recovery
Subsector: Good Housekeeping
Applicability: Process
Resource savings: Material
Tags: Materials recovery Preparation Sorting
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Improve the performance of the cooling system

The calculated Coefficient Of Performance (COP) for chillers in a baby milk dairy company was found to be much lower than the benchmark value. Root cause analysis for the low perfomance revealed that the causes are poor maintenance, together with the direct exposure to sunlight of the chillers, and high air temerature in the suction area. Adopting good house keeping measures, including periodic maintenance of the chiller, fans, and fins, as well as relocating the chiller suction duct and installing shades over the chiller shall improve the COP, reducing 23% of the chiller energy consumption.

Sector: Manufacture of other food products
Subsector: Good Housekeeping
Applicability: Utilities
Resource savings: Energy
Tags: COP Manufacture of other food products SOP
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Improve the quality of jar labels to save water

A ketchup and tomato paste production company faced problems with their supply chain for jar labels, where the high quality labels have long delivery time. Therefore, the company occassionally used labels from low quality suppliers in response to peak seasons of market demand. The main problem of low quality labels was that they were not sharply cut, and the company had to remove them from the jars using excessive water to remove glue together with the wrong cut labels. Thus losses were not only in terms of lost labels, but also loss of water, and loss of production time. The remedial action was to contact label suppliers, to improve the sharpness of the cutting blades, to use glue that requires less water if removed, and to investigate for better design of spacing between labels. Those measures should decrease the number of reworked jars, reduce the water and packaging material losses, and increase the availability of the packaging machine.

Sector: Manufacture of other food products
Subsector: Good Housekeeping
Applicability: Utilities
Resource savings: MaterialWater
Tags: Manufacture of other food products Production planning supply chain
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Improved CAD cutting

A Jeans manufacturing company used an old CAD software requiringmanual input for the textile cloth cutting process. Breakdown of the material losses accross different section revealed that the cutting leftovers represent the majority of those losses. Upgrading the CAD software to a fully automated version reduces losses, through optimizing the patron designs. Savings are calculated to be 2% increase of production with same input raw material.

Sector: Manufacture of wearing apparel, except fur apparel
Subsector: Technology upgrade/Eco-innovation
Applicability: Process
Resource savings: Material
Tags: Cuttig except fur apparel Manufacture of wearing apparel Preparation
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Improved chemical storage (dyes)

Bad practices for handling and storage of chemicals and dyes including storage in bags and cartoons open to the atmosphere resulted in product loss, generation of hazardous waste, and fire risk. Modifications to the storage procedure, through shifting to metal or plastic reusable packaging, installation of ventilation system were among the practices that reduced the losses.

Sector: Weaving of textiles
Subsector: Good Housekeeping
Applicability: Utilities
Resource savings: Material
Tags: handling VOC reduction Weaving of textiles
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Improved combustion efficiency of the steam boiler

Measurement and analysis of the boiler flue gases pointed that the boiler efficiency is sub-optmized, and can be improved. Adopting preventive maintenance, including frequent monitoring of the flue gases increased the boiler efficiency, and consequently saved on energy consumption.

Sector: Manufacture of dairy products
Subsector: Process control or modification
Applicability: Utilities
Resource savings: Energy
Tags: Manufacture of dairy products Measurement Monitoring
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Improved curd yield

In this dairy, producing cheese, the curd yield is not optimised, increasing the input milk to achieve the production target. Increasing the yield can be achieved through utilization of some aids (CaCl2 solution), and consequenty save on material.

Sector: Manufacture of dairy products
Subsector: Process control or modification
Applicability: Process
Resource savings: Material
Tags: Benchmarking Manufacture of dairy products
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Improved drainage, shower wash at the final rinsing bath and drying of parts

In a surface treatment process, benchmarking the chromium losses highlighted that the company exceeds the common practice level of those losses. Modifications to the chrome plating bath, and the setup for parts rinsing, supported reduction of chromium loss.

Sector: Manufacture of parts and accessories for motor vehicles
Subsector: Process control or modification
Applicability: Process
Resource savings: Material
Tags: Manufacture of parts and accessories for motor vehicles pollution reduction recovery
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Improved management of cleaning solvent

A printing facility observed high consumption of cleaning solvent that is used to clean the printing machines, due to an inefficient cleaning method practiced. Installing an automatic washing machine for cleaning the movable parts of the printing machines together with a solvent recovery unit to distill and recover used solvent shall save over 95% of the cleaning solvent baseline.

Sector: Printing and service activities related to printing
Subsector: Process control or modification
Applicability: Utilities
Resource savings: Material
Tags: Printing and service activities related to printing recovery VOC
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Improved set up of White Dusting Booths and Black and Blue Tints

The setup and structure of the powder coating boothes, being of steel strucutre and relying on manual process resulted in significant powder losses, and inconsistency of product quality. Changing the booths to plastic structure facilitates its cleanining between colors, led to improved product quality. Losses of the powder were reduced through changing the automation of the feed system.

Sector: Manufacture of parts and accessories for motor vehicles
Subsector: Process control or modification
Applicability: Process
Resource savings: Material
Tags: efficient design Manufacture of parts and accessories for motor vehicles
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