Minimising environmental impact by sequencing cultured dairy products: two case studies

The increased production of cultured milk products has environmental consequences. To counteract the environmental impact from the dairy industry, it is important to process the products in a sequence designed to minimise waste. In a previous study a model was constructed to minimise the waste caused by a sequence for a given set of products and to calculate the environmental impact of a waste minimised sequence. This study applies successfully the model in case studies at two dairies. The number of products to be sequenced varied: Dairy A had 34 products and Dairy B had 16. The sequenced products were yoghurt, sour cream, cold sauce and crème fraiche, all with multiple flavours. The difference in number of products to be sequenced offered the opportunity to use both of the two model sequencing solutions: the heuristic and the optimised. The role of frequency of each product to be sequenced was investigated. Scenarios with differing frequencies were used in the case studies. The result showed clearly that the waste caused by a sequence decreased when product frequency was reduced. From a life cycle perspective, the environmental impact of processing cultured milk products can be greatly reduced by adopting sequences with fewer changes of product.