Environmental Stewardship Case Study:
Rethinking Waste in the UK
To meet the target to divert all production waste away from landfill at our four breweries, maltings and office sites in the UK by the end of 2012, Molson Coors UK has put an innovative reduction and reuse strategy into place.
Across all the sites there has been a continual focus on diverting waste streams away from landfill to beneficial uses including composting and energy recovery. These efforts have cut waste to landfill by 27%, saving more than £60,000 in landfill tax over two years.
Brewing co-products have a long history of reuse. About 90% of excess yeast produced is used to make Marmite, a popular UK condiment. The final 10% is used as animal feed with spent grains also being passed on to the agricultural sector for use as feedstock.
This strategy has been adapted for the Sharp’s brewery in Rock, Cornwall where more waste is given to farmers. A dairy herd local to the Rock brewery eats 30 tonnes of spent grain every week, a pig farm takes five tonnes of the protein rich excess yeast, and Cornish beef cows drink up to 30 litres of waste beer a week - to make the South West's very own Kobe beef.
Molson Coors’ Tadcaster brewery also uses an anaerobic digestion system and one is due to be installed at the Sharp’s Brewery in Rock, Cornwall in 2011. These plants treat wastewater to a very high standard for disposal and generate a beneficial biogas as a co-product which is a source of renewable energy.
Achieving our goal will have commercial and environmental benefits both now and in the future. Reaching zero production waste to landfill across our breweries not only requires excellent inventory management but innovation and collaboration, too. In addition, many of the by-products of the brewing process are valuable resources for farmers and food producers, as well as being a potential energy source
Supply Chain Director Molson Coors (UK & Ireland), Lee Finney