great beer, great responsibility - MillerCoors

e n v i r o n m e n t a l s u s t a i n a b i l i t ygreat achievement: zero wasteWe have always believed that waste is Innovative ReuseFrom Waste Beera resource out of place. That’s why weIn 2009, MillerCoors reused or recycled to Fish Foodchallenge ourselves every day to find newmore than 99 percent of its breweryIn 2009, our Ohio brewery teamedopportunities to reduce, reuse and recyclewaste, including spent grain andour brewery waste.up with Oberon FMR to run aspent yeast, wood, aluminum, cullet,full-scale trial of an innovativeSpecifically, MillerCoors focuses on: metals, plastic and paperboard.• Waste generation and disposal• Waste management• Upstream wasteminimizationThis represents a nearly one percentimprovement from 2008.Across our breweries,much of the waste istechnology to create a fishfood ingredient from brewerywastewater that will help alleviatedependence on natural fisheries.recycled and suppliedIn 2009, we exceeded 2015 goalThe high-protein ingredient,to external groupsour 2015 goal,Reducefor reuse. Bio-solids derived from nutrients found inreducing the totalwaste to landfill generated at thethe brewery process wastewater,amount of waste sentby 15%wastewater treatmentto landfill by moreis intended to replace fishmealplants are used tothan 20 percent.used for farm-raised fish. The trialfertilize local farms andTwo of our breweries –Virginia and Ohio – recentlyachieved their goals of zero waste tolandfill. The breweries reduced their solidwaste by cutting usage, recycling and findingcreative ways to reuse brewery materials.the lime from the wastewatertreatment plant is reused as asoil conditioner. Fly ash is reused bya local cement manufacturer for cementmix, landfill cover and reclamation refill. Inanother example of creative material reuse,showed promising results, provingthe old adage, “One man’s trash isanother man’s treasure.”our brewery green teams act as recyclingdiscarded glass is ground into mulch toambassadors to fellow employees and take alandscape our Ohio brewery.At our Ohio brewery, weleadership role in organizing activities aimedreused scrap metal and oldWe also search for new ways to reuse the at reducing waste.grating found in the brewerymaterials in which our suppliers deliverSeveral of our offices are leading the chargeour ingredients. In Golden and Virginia,to make ergonomic upgradesto eliminate waste. At our Milwaukeewe clean and reuse the hop drums in theto the high speed can packer.corporate office, employees “stashed theirbrewery. We also recycle the five-gallonpails that store hop pellets and flavoring.trash,” voluntarily forfeiting their office wasteAny remaining non-recyclable materials,bins. Their efforts resulted in a savings ofranging from 0.2–0.4 percent, are sent to amore than 15,000 plastic trash bags fromEmployee Green Teamsnearby waste-to-energy facility, where theyentering the landfill. The Vice President ofare used beneficially to produce steam. From senior management to hourly our Ohio brewery gave up her office trashworkers, MillerCoors employees are bin, and now only uses the communityWe’re committed to further improvinghelping to reduce our waste stream. bins. Additionally, the Golden Brewery Viceour performance. We’re working to gainA true grassroots effort, members of President issued reusable aluminum watera better understanding of upcomingbottles to all employees to eliminate the useregulations in orderof plastic water bottles.to finalize a new2015 goal for waste looking back.reduction. WeMillerCoors exceeded its waste goals in 2009, surpassing itslooking•ahead.2015 goal five years ahead of schedule. Two of our breweriesexpect to announceFurther improve waste collection methods at all breweriesalso achieved zero waste to landfill for a period of months.our updated targetto increase recycling ratesWe’ve maintained a commitment to finding creative ways toin late 2010.•Set new, aggressive waste reduction target for 2015reuse brewery waste, and expanded our recyclingAchieveefforts across all facilities.zero waste to landfill at one additional brewery17