Mr. Billy Cronin:

Milk coming into the factories is about 12.5% to 13% solids. There is a lot water in that; it is around 87% water. Water has to be moved because it goes out in powder or it goes out in cheese. Those are the two primary formats. Inside the factory gate, there is efficiency. There are kilowatts of electricity per 1,000 l of milk and we measure that continuously on an hourly basis.

There is water recycling and water coming from evaporators. There is water coming from reverse osmosis, RO, plants because they are used to concentrate the solids from 12% up to 45%, or 22% if you use an RO plant. There is water coming from that. That water is being treated to use for recycling back into clean-in-place, CIP, centres and so on. Efficiency is key within the factory gates. The milk is brought in and it is converted as efficiently as possible from a yield perspective so as much product is recovered into the bag as possible. The yield is measured whether we are making cheddar, demineralised whey powder or lactose. That is all about efficiency.

In water terms, we reduce our hydraulic load because we have to. Milk cannot brought in and all the water that is taken off the milk cannot be pumped to the effluent treatment plant. That is recycled and reused to displace potable water as well.