Godfrey Hirst Carpets -
Major Winners of savewater! awards® 2005
October 2005

Godfrey Hirst Carpets has been honoured as the winner of both the ‘Manufacturing’ category and the Award for Excellence at the 2005 Savewater Awards held on Friday 21 October at Melbourne ’s Plaza Ballroom, during National Water Week.

The Savewater Awards recognise and reward outstanding achievement in water conservation across Victorian businesses, community groups, individual and government department and agencies.

Godfrey Hirst Carpets has been recognised for saving more than 232kL of water per day by recycling water used in the carpet dyeing process. This represents a 32.5 per cent water reduction for its carpet dyeing operations, equating to 85ML of water over the course of the year, or around 85 Olympic sized swimming pools.

Current technology uses large liquid ring vacuum pumps to extract excess water from dyed carpet; during this process, a rotating ring of fresh potable water (called ‘seal water’) achieves the pumping action inside a cylindrical housing and is discharged continuously from each pump.

Godfrey Hirst Carpets have developed a system to capture and treat seal water so that it can be reused into each pump on a slowed-loop, continuous basis.

“A comprehensive environmental audit of our manufacturing processes identified carpet dyeing as the area with most potential for water saving,” says Mr. Brian Cassidy, Engineering Manager at Godfrey Hirst Carpets. “Now we have found a way for the system to dramatically reduce the amount of water involved in carpet dyeing.”

In order to get the system up and running Godfrey Hirst Carpets had to implement fibre removal systems, a heat exchanger/cooler tower system, continual monitoring equipment, extensive piping and plumbing networks and electrical control systems to ensure that the vacuum pumps never run without seal water. The substantial investment made by Godfrey Hirst Carpets exemplifies the companies ever growing commitment to both technical innovation and environmental sustainability.

Other Finalists in the category for ‘Manufacturing’ were Armstrong World Industries ( Australia ) Pty Ltd and Coca-Cola Amatil ( Australia ). Godfrey Hirst Carpets was rewarded for its demonstrated innovation and achievement in the reduction of water by being named the 2005 winner of the Manufacturing category.

Godfrey Hirst Carpets also received the 2005 Award for Excellence, which acknowledges the organisation that has made the greatest contribution to sustainability across all award categories.

Godfrey Hirst’s success at the Savewater Awards comes on the back of the “Outstanding Achievement in Greenhouse Gas Abatement” awarded to Godfrey Hirst Carpets as part of the Greenhouse Challenge. Together these awards reflect the proactive and innovative approach taken by Godfrey Hirst in ensuring environmental sustainability.

This was the fourth year for the annual Savewater Awards with 10 categories and hundreds of participating organisations.

Contact:
Brian Cassidy
Engineering Manager
Godfrey Hirst Australia Pty Ltd
Tel: 03 5225 0274

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