Armstrong World Industries Braeside plant in Melbourne produces vinyl sheet flooring for use in correctional facilities, portable buildings, public housing, laboratories, as well as the healthcare, education and retail markets. Since 2003, a key company objective has been the reduction of Armstrong’s environmental footprint.

“To help us improve our water use, we commissioned Hatlar Environmental Pty Ltd to assist us in the development of a water savings plan; this formed the basis for improvements under WaterMAP, by identifying specific water saving actions that could be implemented on site”, said Alan Bainbridge, Plant Manager. The outcomes of the site investigation resulted in extensive metering being installed to monitor daily water use, and making better use of rainwater harvested through a 120,000 litre tank, by using it to flush toilets and maintain gardens.

An opportunity also existed to significantly improve the management of daily steam production from the plant’s boiler, particularly the capturing of the condensation that was being produced in the process. Following this discovery, a system was installed in the boiler to collect the condensate overflow and then pump back for reuse. The Braeside plant has reduced its water consumption significantly in the 0past 12 months. The support provided by South East Water and Hatlar has contributed to this significant saving.

Judges’ comments
Armstrong World Industries manufactures hard flooring products and consumes a lot of water in the process. The judges were impressed with the organisation’s efforts to reduce its water consumption by developing and adopting an integrated approach to sustainable manufacturing.