'Green' beer not just for St Patrick's

Huyghe Brewery may be best known for the pink elephant icon on its Delirium beer labels, but going green is now the priority for this Belgian company, according to its owner.

Alain De Laet says his company, founded in 1654, is working to promote the concept of environmentally friendly beer and sustainability.

The brewery, situated in Melle, 45 kilometers from Brussels, has offered a year's supply of beer to the visitor who travels the farthest and uses the greenest mode of transport on World Environment Day, June 5.

Production facilities at Sociedad Anonima Damm. The Spanish brewery says it has invested 35 million euros in energy optimization, 25 million in renewable energy generation and high efficiency, plus 10 million euros in additional energy savings. Photos provided to China Daily

Participants are encouraged to make the journey on foot, by bike or in electric vehicles.

"We're strongly conscious of the environment, and we want to be the most sustainable brewery in Belgium," says De Laet, chief executive officer and the fourth generation of his family to run the company.

Huyghe produces 22 kinds of beer, including its award-winning flagship brand Delirium Tremens, with the pink elephant on its logo. The Melle brewery has a capacity of 185,000 hectoliters, and exports its products to 85 countries worldwide.

"China was our sixth-largest market last year, and it's likely to rank fifth or even third this year," De Laet says, adding that sales turnover is forecast to reach 30 million euros by the end of this year.

However, according to regulations, new investments or technological updates must be evaluated on their environmental impact prior to implementation, to improve efficiency and the use of green energy.

"To produce 1 liter of beer requires about 5.5 liters of water," explains Joris Dheedene, the head brewmaster. "But a large proportion of that water is used for other purposes, such as cleaning the facilities, rather than beer production."

De Laet says he has invested more than 10 million euros since 2011 to make the brewery highly efficient and innovative, and says construction of a new brewhouse in 2012 has resulted in large savings in terms of raw materials, electricity and water usage.

The brewery also replaced heavy fuels with gas last year. "Right now, 20 percent of the electricity consumed by the brewery is from solar panels," he says.

Thanks to the new eco-friendly systems, raw material usage has declined by 10 percent, and the usage of water, electricity and steam in the brewery can be cut by 36 percent, 32 percent and 58 percent respectively, says the company.

The company has also installed a purification system in its water plant, while a new filtration plant will begin operation in mid-June.

"Theoretically, latest studies show it's possible to reuse the wastewater treated in the brewery. Up to 70 percent of the wastewater will be reused in the future," says De Laet, who is also a board member of the Belgian Brewers association.

Simon Spillane, a senior adviser for Brewers of Europe, an industry association in Brussels representing more than 5,000 breweries, says companies are collaborating to improve not only environmental sustainability, but also economic and social sustainability.

Breweries are dedicated to improving the environment through conserving energy and water, efficiently consuming raw materials, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and establishing comprehensive recycling programs, he says.

Carlos Cervantes Cuadra is chief brewmaster of Sociedad Anonima Damm, which was founded in 1876 and is one of the oldest and largest breweries in Spain, owning 17 beer brands such as Estrella Damm. He says the volume of water used per hectoliter of beer produced is an important indicator of environmental performance for the beverage sector.

"With technological innovation, the water used to produce 1 liter of beer is now around 4 liters, dropping from 10 liters in the past," he says.

Damm has a 140,000-square-meter warehouse on the Barcelona harbor, and a factory of about the same size near the city airport. Cuadra says the company has successfully switched to renewable energy, with 70 percent its total energy consumed from solar photovoltaic panels.

With current production capacity of 5 million hectoliters a year, the Spanish brewery says it has invested 35 million euros in energy optimization, 25 million in renewable energy generation and high efficiency, plus 10 million euros in additional energy savings.

Due to efforts to ensure sustainability, Damm has won a series of awards, including the Catalan government's Environment Prize in 2012, and a prize from the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment.

Cuadra says secondary products - output from a brewery other than beer such as grain, yeast, malt particles and hops - can be used by many other sectors, including as animal feed or as ingredients in cosmetics.

"At the moment, 98 percent of the waste is either recycled or reused. Only 2 percent is discarded," he says.

In addition to brewing 25 different kinds of beer, the Damm group also makes water, tea and milkshake products.

Pioneering brewers worldwide are contributing to sustainable development through initiatives to "reduce, reuse and recycle".

Leuven-based multinational Anheuser-Busch InBev is the largest brewer in the world, taking one-fourth of the global market. It has participated in such initiatives as the United Nations Global Compact and the UN Environmental Programme, according to the company.

The company says it has set eight environmental goals for 2017 that span operations at its breweries, including its 39 in China, and across its supply chain and beyond.

Brewing companies can play a significant role in addressing the world's most serious environmental challenges, such as water scarcity and climate change, InBev says.

For China Daily

(China Daily European Weekly 05/29/2015 page19)