Figures stack up: indisputable case for Greenvale’s innovative vegetable washing process.
Trial site now opened for potential users to observe “new standard for crop washing.”
One year after trial operations began, Greenvale’s innovative Project Cascade vegetable cleaning system has saved well over sixty million litres of water, slashing consumption by 75% at the company’s fresh potato processing plant at Tern Hill, Shropshire.
But that’s only the start. Effluent is down 50%. Electricity used to cool the water is down 50%. Waste removal is down 65%. Plus, over 1,000 tonnes of soil have been recycled.
Now Greenvale is offering to arrange visits to the Tern Hill site to show the Cascade system to potential users.
As an innovative ‘green’ solution Cascade has made a huge impact, dramatically reducing the Tern Hill site’s carbon footprint. If the system were adopted across the vegetable processing industry it could deliver enormous benefits to the UK environment. The consultant Greenvale commissioned to undertake an independent assessment of Cascade concluded her report with the recommendation that “this system should be set as the new standard for crop washing.”
Cascade has had an equally spectacular effect on quality control, giving Greenvale’s customers fresher, more attractive potatoes. “The system is incredibly efficient – the product is much cleaner and we’ve made big savings from the reduction in rejection rate for dirty potatoes,” says Martin Lewis, site manager at Tern Hill. “Even more impressively, we’ve had no cases of bacterial breakdown this year. Not one. That’s a significant breakthrough: with standard potato cleaning systems, it’s a major issue.”
So Cascade has proved that it’s a greener solution and a better one in terms of product quality. What about the financial impact? “It costs much less to run that a traditional potato washing system,” says Martin Lewis. “In fact, total savings at the Tern Hill site amount to well in excess of £100,000, in the first year alone.”
Greenvale is planning to install the Cascade system at its other sites during the next 18 months. It’s not alone: ten other companies are currently considering installing the system at their vegetable processing sites.
Meanwhile Cascade’s indisputable environmental benefits are winning acclaim for Greenvale’s development team. The company has already won several awards, including the Environmental Initiative Food Processing award, sponsored by Siemens, the Re:Fresh Innovation of the Year Award, organised by the Fresh Produce Consortium, and a Green Apple Award, which will be presented at the House of Commons on November 17th 2010. Project Cascade has also been shortlisted for this year’s EDIE environmental excellence awards, to be announced on November 4th 2010.
“Project Cascade is still evolving,” says Martin Lewis. “We’re currently developing the technology for an add-on that will fully utilise the Cascade water supply, helping us cut consumption and enhance results even further.”
Organisations interested in visiting Project Cascade should contact Greenvale’s Tern Hill site on +44 (0)1630 638 584.
For more information visit the Greenvale AP website at www.greenvale.co.uk