|
Milk Company ProgramsMurray Goulburn
Dairy Farmers
Warnambool Cheese and Butter
Bega Cheese
|
Bega CheeseBega Cheese is committed to ensuring the long term sustainability of its business. A key component of this is working closely with our milk suppliers to ensure their farming operations are environmentally sound and sustainable in the long term. In recent years we have been working closely with a large group of suppliers in the Bega Valley to develop an Environmental Management System that can be used by dairy farmers to improve the sustainability of their farming operations. The Bega Environmental Management System (BEMS) can be used by dairy farmers to identify issues affecting their sustainability, develop a corrective action plan, monitor the effectiveness of the corrective activities and to review management in light of new threats, technology or information. We will be working with our milk suppliers, initially focussing on the Bega Valley to encourage the adoption of the Bega Environmental Management System. In the meantime Bega Cheese has been working closely with the Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority to implement environmental works projects on-farm. To date the level of interest and commitment to implementing works has exceeded expectations. The types of environmental works being implemented include; improvements to on farm effluent management systems, biodiversity enhancement, nutrient management and soil erosion management.
At the factory level Bega Cheese has also been working to improve the long term sustainability of the business. We are currently developing an Environmental Management System (EMS) for the Bega Cheese manufacturing facilities which will be implemented across both sites in Bega. The EMS focuses on minimising environmental impacts by reducing the use of energy, water, and raw materials, by reducing the generation of waste and managing the distribution of nutrients in factory irrigation water to a number of dairy farms close to the factory. All wastewater from the factory is used for pasture growth on farms owned by Bega Cheese or its shareholders.
Other factory projects aimed at understanding and reducing our environmental footprint include; diversion of film waste from landfill through recycling programs with Visy Recycling; installation of a wet weather storage dam to improve irrigation water use; and energy use modelling in preparation for energy reduction projects. Bega Cheese also participates in the National Pollution Inventory, National Packaging Covenant, Energy Efficiency Opportunities program, the National Greenhouse Energy and Reporting Scheme and is a member of the Dairy Manufacturers Sustainability Council.
For more information on farm projects, please contact:
Melissa Balas
Environment and Sustainability Officer
Bega Cheese
Phone: 02 64917695
For more information on the Bega Factory EMS, please contact:
Niki Eder
Process Improvement & Environment System Co-ordinator
Bega Cheese Limited Phone: 02 6491 7743
|