QUEENLAND’s iconic Ginger Factory at Yandina on the Sunshine Coast, has slashed its water use by 25.6 million litres a year with the support of the Queensland Government’s $55m Business Water Efficiency Program (BWEP).
BWEP has provided almost $90,000 in funding to assist Buderim Ginger to install a custom-designed water recycling system at the factory.
The project is expected to save 25.6 million litres of town water a year, and will also reduce waste water from the factory and cut energy use.
Buderim Ginger Chief Executive Gerard O’Brien said the company had carried out a significant amount of research and trial work over the past six years to allow the company to use recycled water in its ginger processing while maintaining product quality.
“This highly complex project utilising a combination of technologies has been designed in-house and is a world first for the ginger industry.”
O’Brien said Government support of the project through BWEP had been very important.
“Our competitors are based in low operating cost countries such as China and Thailand. Accordingly our operating margins are under severe pressure, making it hard for us to justify large investment in process changes on purely environmental grounds.
“The BWEP funding has been a critical part of the financial impetus to get this technology in place and we have now set a new global benchmark for water efficiency,” he said.
The Business Water Efficiency Program provides $55m in incentive funding to help Queensland businesses implement water saving measures.
BWEP aims to reduce the consumption of reticulated (drinking) water by businesses across Queensland by 20 million litres per day.