I recently highlighted the great recycling program implemented by Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE), including the Zero the Dog traveling trophy. CCE plants across the country are working towards a 100% solid waste recycling rate with many coming very close. Another beverage company is also closing in on 100%, Anheuser-Busch. The company recently announced that 99.4% of the solid waste created during the beer brewing and product packaging process at 12 American breweries is recycled.

 

A variety of products at the plant are recycled including beechwood chips, aluminum, glass, brewers’ grain, scrap metal, cardboard, and just about anything else that can be recycled is recycled. As was the case with the CCE recycling efforts, the employees at the Anheuser-Busch breweries are responsible for the high recycling rate.

 

“When it comes to recycling in our breweries, it really starts with the efforts of our employees,” said Peter Kraemer, vice president of Supply, Anheuser-Busch. “The ideas and suggestions they generate have helped us reduce, reuse and recycle nearly all of the materials generated in our production processes.” Source: Anheuser-Busch

 

The recycling program is just one facet of Anheuser-Busch’s environmental efforts. The company also focuses on energy efficiency products in its breweries, used the LEED rating system during the construction of the Technology Center in St. Louis, and is working on water conservation efforts.