Effluent treatment - A Boardroom Issue

Rich Matthews, General Manager of Siltbuster Process Solutions, the UK’s leading provider of modular water treatment solutions for the food and drinks industry, explains why boards should understand more about effluent treatment in terms of business compliance and risk.

Effluent treatment plants (ETPs) can often be overlooked and underinvested in. Whilst production pressures and product innovation usually top the investment needs; it is the effluent plants that can attract significant business risk if not carefully considered. The ETP plays a critical part in day-to-day operations and can be impacted on by a variety of product decisions; from production throughput and changes in product type through to potential seasonal impact of demands.

Whilst there can be many diverse input stresses placed upon ETPs, there are normally limited disposal routes available; direct to sewer, direct to watercourse or tankered offsite. Each presents its own risk, cost, and sensitivity to business operations. However, it is broader issues such as the availability of the ETP for production, environmental compliance and energy consumption that present some fundamental risks to the business.

The attention that should be applied to the effluent treatment plant from a boardroom perspective should focus on resilience. There is a clear business risk with the ETP operation and performance, therefore there is a need to consider contingency planning as an essential part of the process, with the aims to both be more agile in managing waste streams and to improve business efficiency without increasing risk.

Read more about the effluent treatment in terms of business compliance and risk on The Journal of the Institute of Food & Science Technology.

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Taxonomy

• Effluent
• Food Processing
• Food Processing