The Ingham’s team at Tahmoor’s Turkey Primary Processing facility in New South Wales reduced the site’s water usage by 26 per cent in just five months, saving 24,000 kilolitres of potable water, or the equivalent of nine Olympic-sized swimming pools! 
The site processes approximately 27,000 turkeys per week, with water being an essential part of the process to produce quality products, including portioned, minced, marinated and whole turkey birds.
When Plant Manager, Carolynn Wade started with the team in 2021, she commenced bringing the leadership team together comprising engineering, production, safety and quality to discuss ideas to improve the site. Top of the list was how they could do the right thing for our environment by saving water.
The team identified a range of initiatives to reduce water usage across the site. This included preventative and reactive maintenance to resolve water leakages, working with the cleaning contractors to update their cleaning practices to use less water, and reducing the water volume in the spin chiller tanks by 14,000 litres per processing day.
The reduction in water usage has also led to less wastewater on site, freeing up the wastewater storage dams and adding the further benefit of less discharge to the local council’s wastewater treatment system by more than 200 kilolitres per day. The team is both saving water and reducing our environmental footprint in the local community.
Well done to Adam McNamara, Carolynn Wade and the Tahmoor leadership team for showing what great progress can be made by working together towards a more sustainable planet.