Business operating costs, including water and effluent are significant.

Fish processing can use a considerable amount of clean water, which after being used in seafood processing, is then discharged as high strength effluent.

Large volume of water  +  high strength effluent  = high costs (£)

But there is good news. There are many ways to reduce both water use and effluent production and save your business a lot of money. And it doesn’t require investing a lot of money; often just looking at and measuring what you are doing enables you to identify and cut down on wastage. Usually the simplest changes can make the biggest difference.

A large whitefish processor in Hull cut their water use by 50% over 3 years saving £32,000 each year



There are 6 ‘golden’ rules to help you make savings;

Saving water
1. Measure and monitor how much water you use.
2. Turn off water when not in use.
3. Maintain hoses and taps, and quickly fix all leaks no matter how small.

Reducing effluent
4. Keep waste and trimmings out of water wherever possible
5. Keep waste off the floor, and
6. Don’t let waste down the drain.


A large whitefish processor in Aberdeen reduced water use by over 50% in 3 months, just by improving staff management. This saved nearly £50,000 per year in both water and effluent costs


You can start making savings today;
We have a number of different resources to help you make savings


• Download your free poster to encourage people to save water by clicking here or contact web_fish_waste@seafish.co.uk for a printed version (available free only to seafood processors in the UK on a first come first served basis)



• Download your free poster to show ways to reduce waste by clicking here or contact web_fish_waste@seafish.co.uk for a printed version (available free only to seafood processors in the UK on a first come first served basis)



• Waste Minimisation CD – e-mail your details to training@seafish.co.uk for your free CD

• A whole range of useful reports that are included on the CD are available from our publications page. Go to ../resources/publications.asp and type in ‘waste’ or ‘water’

• The Seafood Information Network will help you find relevant information from all over the world – go to http://sin.seafish.org


A pelagic processor saved 75% of his factory water consumption by making improvements to processing equipment and fitting flow regulators


Seafish contacts
• Research & Development – For information on research projects and technical work contact Michaela Archer - m_archer@seafish.co.uk
• Process Excellence Service – Water and effluent are reviewed as part of a free Business Review.   For more information contact Richard Blythe - r_blythe@seafish.co.uk
• Training – further details on training information is available from training@seafish.co.uk

Links to useful organisations
• Envirowise
• NetRegs
• Your local water company
• Business Link
• Business Environment Partnership
• IPPC guide containing useful information