Conserving vital resources with CleanSmoke: Every year on June 5th, the World Environment Day commemorates the first ‘Conference on the Human Environment‘ in 1972. Since then, the worldwide day of action has been raising awareness for the increasing destruction of the environment and wasteful use of resources. This also applies to the food industry. Regardless of which area of food production, be it farming, producing or consumption: producers, as well as consumers, continue to waste too many resources – showing an upward, rather than a downward, trend.
Sustainable, safe and healthy
One area not usually associated first with the waste of resources is conventional smoking. In an environmental performance evaluation by the German Institute of Food Technology (DIL), friction and smoulder smoking processes do not compare favourably to CleanSmoke. The innovative smoking technology, using pre-purified primary smoke condensate, not only allows the production of safe and non-hazardous products, but also the unburdening of the environment.
Conserving resources with CleanSmoke: In Germany alone, carbon dioxide equivalents could be reduced by up to 73,000 tons, water usage by almost 500,000 m3, and energy by around 600 million kWh – per year. Added to this are the significantly reduced uses of fossil fuels, wood and cleaning products used in smokehouses.
In Germany, only around ten percent of foods are smoked using CleanSmoke. While this already achieves a reduction of greenhouse emissions by around eight percent, and reduced energy consumption of around 7.2 percent, this share could be significantly higher. ‘With CleanSmoke, the environmental impact of the meat production can be reduced by around 55 percent compared to conventional smoking methods‘, says Dr. Sergiy Smetana, an eco-balance expert at the DIL. If this environmentally friendly method would be used consistently, around 30 percent of greenhouse emissions in this industry could be reduced.
Saving water for an entire city
The difference is even more significant when looking at water consumption: producers could save 479,000 m3 of water. That is roughly the amount of drinking water that an entire city, such as Kiel, consumes per year. According to Smetana, the water consumption within the supply chain could be reduced by a further 350.000 m3. Enough to produce cotton for jeans and t-shirts for around 35,000 people. And an incredible 9 million people could cook their food in a microwave with the up to 600 million kWh of energy that could be saved using CleanSmoke.
Another significant benefit (and another way conserving resources) of CleanSmoke is the reduced amount of wood, fossil fuels, cleaning products, and chemicals needed. The around 3,400 tons of wood that would not be required for the process could be used to build more than 100 timber houses. The reduction of cleaning products would translate to around 2,600 tons – that is the equivalent of more than 100 road tankers. According to the DIL eco-balance, the population would also be spared the emissions released by around 40 tons of chemicals, therefore saving the health and life of at least 80,000 people.
All of these figures illustrate CleanSmoke‘s enormous potential to help protect resources in Germany. Worldwide, the country has the highest per capita consumption of smoked foods. Smoked meat alone has a share of around 60 percent of all meat products combined – considering a yearly consumption of around 90 kilograms of meat.
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