Molson Coors saves 500 million litres in water reduction drive

As part of its Our Beer Print sustainability strategy, the brewing company, which produces brands including Coors Light, Cobra and Carling, reduced its water use by 3.3%, an 8% reduction on its 2011 baseline, saving the company 500 million litres of water.

The firms’ sustainability programme aims to achieve total zero waste to landfill, a 25% energy use reduction as well as a 15% carbon emissions reduction by 2020.

Molson Coors invested $11.8m in new anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities for wastewater. The company commissioned a new AD plant at its brewery in Bulgaria in 2014 and added two further projects in Serbia and Montenegro in early 2015.

Beer print

The cuts to water use come as part of Molson Coors’ goal to achieve water reduction 15% as one of its 2020 Our Beer Print sustainability goals.

Molson Coors CEO Mark Hunter said: “Through Our Beer Print, we are striving to increase our environmental performance and support an engaged workforce, and develop a social purpose for our core brands.”

In 2014, Molson Coors was recognised on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for a third year.

The company cut its energy use by 3.4% in 2014 and decreased carbon emissions by 2.4%, investing £75m in a new UK energy centre at its Burton brewery, which is expected to cut the sites emissions by 15%.

The brewer achieved zero waste to landfill at all its UK breweries and overall reduced the amount of waste generated per pint of beer by 11.5%. Molson Coors has previously found ways to reduce packing waste at its UK breweries, hitting reductions of 6% in 2013 at its UK sites. 

Matt Field