Reducing water consumption in the wholesale food industry through water monitoring systems and awareness campaigns

This case study details how Excellent Meat, a wholesale meat supply and packaging company, reduced its water consumption by 30% between 2017 and 2020 through the implementation of smart water flow meters, a monitoring system, and internal awareness campaigns.

• Between 2017 and 2020, Excellent Meat achieved a 30% reduction in water consumption by installing a water monitoring system and five smart water flow meters, alongside internal awareness campaigns conducted with the National Cleaner Production Centre (NCPC) and Energy Assist.
• The financial impact of the water saving initiatives resulted in a total cost saving of R 1 500 312 against an investment cost of R 360 958, yielding an overall benefit of R 1 139 355. These savings include R 809 346 in water costs and R 690 967 in wastewater costs.
• Specific operational improvements were noted in the Fresh Meat and Deli sections. A leak detected and fixed in 2018 in the Fresh Meat section led to a 48.6% reduction in water consumption rate, dropping from 4.0 kl/ton in 2018 to 2.1 kl/ton in 2019. Over the full 2017-2020 period, the Deli section reduced consumption from 13 kl/ton to 8 kl/ton, and the Fresh Meat section reduced from 3.8 kl/ton to 2.6 kl/ton.
• The company's water reduction efforts were prompted by a severe multi-year drought starting in 2015, which caused water tariffs and restrictions to increase. Future plans for Excellent Meat include expanding water meters to other subsidiaries, implementing energy management and solar PV installations, and establishing waste monitoring and management.

APA

Botha, R., Bredenkamp, R., & Platt, B. (2021). Reducing water consumption in the wholesale food industry through water monitoring systems and awareness campaigns. GreenCape. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/EXCELLENT_MEAT_CASE_STUDY_31_3_21-3.pdf

Chicago

Botha, Rudi, Randall Bredenkamp, and Barry Platt. Reducing water consumption in the wholesale food industry through water monitoring systems and awareness campaigns. GreenCape, 2021. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/EXCELLENT_MEAT_CASE_STUDY_31_3_21-3.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Botha |first1=Rudi |last2=Bredenkamp |first2=Randall |last3=Platt |first3=Barry |title=Reducing water consumption in the wholesale food industry through water monitoring systems and awareness campaigns |publisher=GreenCape |date=2021 |url=https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/EXCELLENT_MEAT_CASE_STUDY_31_3_21-3.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{botha2021reducing, author = {Botha, Rudi and Bredenkamp, Randall and Platt, Barry}, title = {{Reducing water consumption in the wholesale food industry through water monitoring systems and awareness campaigns}}, institution = {GreenCape}, year = {2021}, url = {https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/EXCELLENT_MEAT_CASE_STUDY_31_3_21-3.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }