Unilever, a global consumer goods firm, opened their $72m factory in Durban in 2012. It’s their second largest dry food goods factory. To reduce the use of municipal water supply, the factory makes use of alternate sources of water, such as rainwater harvesting from a 22,000m3 roof and condensate recovery. In addition, it recycles most of the process water and greywater produced in the factory.

At a capital cost of US$2,900,000, the factory has become one of the most water efficient dry food producing factories. Under normal circumstances, the need to use water from the municipal supply has been virtually eliminated, making available up to 12,000m3 of water for the local community each year.