AN ENVIRONMENTALLY-friendly milk factory in Westbury has been praised for its careful use of water.

The United Milk factory has received the Environment Agency's prestigious Water Efficiency Award. The factory estimates it saves 1.8 million gallons of water a day by recycling.

Operations manager Grant McKinlay said: "We have a reverse osmosis plant connected to the site and the water is re-used for cleaning, heating and water flushes, eradicating the need to bring in fresh water. This amounts to savings of about £1,800 per day."