Wissington Factory

came into view as I went home after a Christmas meal last night in Cambridge. The factory is  one of four sugar manufacturing plants in East Anglia.

The root crop is called sugar beet, slightly oval and the size and shape of a rugby ball or smaller. Lorry-loads are delivered to the factory, washed, cut up into strips (cossettes), mixed with hot water and lime to remove impurities, filtered, heated and a syrup or crystals results.

It's an almost zero waste operation, actual waste is 200 grams per tonne (a million grams) of sugar produced. Other products are aggregate, topsoil and animal feed.