SABMiller has commited to reduce water consumption across its global operations.
The group aims to reduce water use per litre of beer by 25% by 2015. This initiative will save around 20 billion litres of water every year by 2015 – enough to fill eight thousand Olympic-sized swimming pools.
SABMiller CEO Graham Mackay said: “In an increasingly water constrained world it is critical that we become as efficient as possible, whilst working with communities to protect water resources.
“This is an extremely challenging, but achievable target, and sets a new industry benchmark.”
By 2015 SABMiller aims to reduce its water consumption to an average of 3.5 litres used to make a litre of beer. In 2008 this figure was 4.6 litres; the industry average is 5 litres.
The ‘five R's’ scheme includes:
pRotect – Influence farmers to ensure responsible water use and understand the watersheds we operate breweries and bottling plants within
Reduce - Change attitudes and behaviour to reduce water consumption within our plants
Reuse - Collect waste water streams within facilities and re-use appropriately
Recycle – Investigate new technologies to recycle water for appropriate use within the plant
Redistribute – Provide local communities with clean water through community investment programmes and treat waste water so it can be used for irrigation or other purposes.
