Reducing water consumption
Sourcing water
We meet our water requirements with water from our own wells and additional water from the municipal supplier. At our production sites in Halle and Berlin, we obtain around three-quarters of the water we need from our own wells, thereby reducing the burden on municipal suppliers. Storck has installed a large drinking water storage tank at its Haller site, which distributes water to the consumption points on the premises. This storage tank allows water consumption and water supply to be separated in time. Peak loads required for confectionery production are balanced by the drinking water available in the storage tank. This prevents large fluctuations in groundwater extraction and protects the groundwater body.
Saving water
In 2024, we consumed 2.72 m³ of water per tonne of finished goods at our four production sites – a figure that demonstrates Storck's exceptional efficiency in terms of water consumption. We document all water consumption in order to quickly identify technical defects and prevent water loss. Based on these consumption figures, we develop tailor-made measures for careful water use. Our focus in particular is on production facilities where the number of cleaning processes required is high due to multiple product changes.
For more than 20 years, we have been using cleaning-in-place (CIP) technology to clean our equipment. Similar to efficient, water-saving dishwashers for private households, this technology reuses water several times, significantly reducing consumption during cleaning processes in the production halls. We clean the moulds, containers and filters that we use in our plants in Berlin and Ohrdruf separately in specially designated washing facilities, that enable effective and resource-saving cleaning.
Technological progress is constantly opening up new opportunities for improvement, in which we are continuously investing. For example, there is great potential for saving water through the use of new technologies in cooling processes, such as the use of highly efficient hybrid recoolers.
Purifying and reusing water
Over 80% of the water we use is purified, treated and returned to the natural or municipal water cycle. The rest remains in the product or evaporates during the manufacturing process. Water treatment is carried out partly in public sewage treatment plants and, at the Ohrdruf and Halle sites, also in the company's own process water treatment plants.
Due to the high hygiene requirements within our production, recycled water is only usable to a limited extent and cannot be used for manufacturing itself. However, there are other possibilities: we have developed concepts for the multiple use of water for initial steps in the cleaning of production facilities and for use in cooling processes. We use a combination of two membrane processes (ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis) to convert process water from production into cooling water. Initial tests at the Halle site have yielded promising results: recycling treated water for cooling purposes has the potential to reduce total water consumption by up to 15% in the long term.
