SUSTAINABILITY SPOTLIGHT | 12 A more sustainable cu瀀瀀a Driving sustainability at Kenyan tea factories The Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) Focus on the “good” days partnered with top Kenyan tea exporter Kenya is one of the world’s largest producers of tea. Eastern Produce Kenya to promote simple The sector employs over 600,000 smallholder farmers, – but e昀昀ective – energy-saving practices at supporting over 3 million people. Tea production is two tea estates located in the Nandi Hills. highly energy-intensive. For example, producing 1 kg of After just 12 months of making sustainability tea requires approximately 3–6 kWh of thermal energy – supplied mainly from wood combustion – and 0.2–0.5 relevant to their local workforce, and by kWh of electrical energy from the grid, renewable introducing straightforward energy-saving energy and diesel generators. To contextualise this, solutions, Eastern Produce Kenya has seen a running a dishwasher for 1 hour typically uses 1 kWh. reduction in energy consumption – proving that simple steps can have a big impact.