Pressure cleaning is used for cleaning floors, walls, vessels, containers, open equipment and conveyors, and as a rinsing stage following cleaning and the application of chemicals. In high-pressure cleaning, water is sprayed at the surface to be cleaned at pressures ranging from 15 bars, which is considered to be low pressure, up to 150 bars, which is considered to be high pressure. A pressure of about 40 to 65 bars is also considered relatively high.

Green cleaning in place, or Green CIP for short, is a technology enabling the re-use of caustic soda during parts cleaning in food and drink production.

The principle is that pipes and tanks are flushed through with hot alkali (instead of cold water) as a first step, resulting in a liquid which is very high in organic matter. The used caustic soda is then passed into the Green CIP process in which a clay-based reagent is used to separate alkali from solids, resulting in a sludge.

Sweet smell of success

• Specialist manufacturer prioritises energy savings
• Audit reveals diverse list of energy-saving actions

SOLEV is a French producer of high added-value designs for perfume bottles and caps. Management placed high priority on energy efficiency and sought advice from experts on how to reduce energy bills.

An audit in 2012-2013 by Optinergie (from April 2012 to May 2013) revealed the most energy-intensive areas which informed SOLEV's energy-efficiency action plan.

Cosy and friendly... to the environment, too

• Newly built hotel went all out to provide comfort without the environmental cost
• 8 % of the total building costs were dedicated to 'green' measures 

To meet increasing demand from guests for environmentally friendly hotels, Yves Dupont decided to fully integrate a strategy of reducing energy consumption into the construction of a new hotel in Soissons, northern France.

Stamp of approval

Self-assessment can help you review the company's waste-management practices. Through no- or low-cost measures, you can identify where waste is arising at each stage of a process and take steps to reduce it. This will boost your environmental performance, reduce your carbon footprint and help to build brand value.

Key actions include:

Fortune favours the Fevery

• Ecolabel pioneer in Belgian hospitality sector
• Actions between 2010 and 2015 reduce power consumption by 11 % and gas and fuel by 33 %

Hotel Fevery is a 10-room family hotel located in Bruges that became the first Belgian-based hotel to be awarded EU Ecolabel certification.

Packaging is a major part of the food and drinks sector. As awareness grows of the need to minimise the environmental impact of packaging throughout the product life-cycle, innovative companies are looking to ecodesign principles for improvements. 

One area of improvement is to reduce packaging weight, in terms of material used per unit, without compromising on function, safety or quality. 'Lightweighting' like this is a long-established means of reducing both the environmental impact of packaging and food waste. 

Green architecture, by design 

• Air heat pump produces 2.2 times more energy than it consumes
• 82 m2 of photovoltaic panels produce 11 600 kWh per year

Fluid’ Concept, a design agency specialising in the construction and renovation of buildings with very low-energy consumption, decided in 2008 to build a new head office in Neufchâteau, France. They saw it as an opportunity to showcase the company’s design strengths and improve its 'green' image.

Marriage of design and environmental ambition!

• Strong energy management measures and renewable energy installations (PV and Canadian well) 
• Net-positive energy building, selling € 12 000 in surplus electricity yearly
• 138 m2 of PV panels produce over 20 MWh a year

Dugarry, a French architectural firm, wanted to showacase their green design credentials and at the same time create an environmentally friendly building for their new premises.