Shooting Green Goals with Eco-friendly African Tusker Beer
Enjoying a favorite beer shouldn’t get anyone panicky about his ecological footprint, and serious beer manufacturers who are also eco-savvy are taking stock of the impact your beer may be making on the environment.
And for those whose throats never run dry too often, that should give you the more reason to enjoy a drink at dinner or drop by your local joint and order a round or two, to celebrate a triumph for the environment - seeing more and more corporates even in the beer manufacturing industry adopt an agenda to reduce their carbon footprint.
So when East African Breweries or EABL, manufacturers of the world famous Tusker beer, and recently, Senator beer, announced the formation of a fully fledged Green Team to score eco-points for their newly launched Green Goals project, it marked a significant milestone.
Senator is mentioned here because it is (wrongly) associated with Barack Obama and it was the pint of choice in Kisumu, a lakeside town near Kogelo village, which should be famous by now à la Obama, during frenzied celebrations after news trickled in that the Illinois senator with Kenyan roots had clinched the Democratic Party nomination over Hillary Clinton.
Mention an “Obama” at any pub anywhere in East Africa and you will be served a Senator. But EABL insists its brand, targeting low income earners in a region known for its lethal, cheap home made brews, has nothing to do with Obama-mania.
Dubbed Green Goals, this manufacturer has made a bold commitment to adhere to strict environmental goals that will be measurable, and this gives it a big green kudos for pioneering this environmental concept in beer manufacturing and processing in this part of the world.
The project will involve reduction of energy usage at the EABL brewing facilities, work to prevent pollution, minimize the environmental impact of all products and operations and cooperation with other industry players and the public to achieve high standards of environmental care.
EABL’s media spokesperson, Ken Kariuki, said: “Environmental degradation has serious repercussion for the economy and society. EABL has recognized the need to address this by adopting more integrated systems of environmental and energy management.”
“We can no longer ignore that protecting the earth has become the most important legacy that we can leave for the future generations. It is not only an excellent thing to do, it also makes good business sense. Recycling and energy management not only reduces our carbon footprint, it also reduces operating costs.”
The Tusker manufacturer has commissioned a US$ 4.2 million (Kshs 250 million) effluent treatment plant at their brewery that has capacity to clean all the wastewater from the factory to up to 97% purity before release to the city’s sewerage system.
EABL already has an elaborate energy saving agenda besides sponsoring a tree planting campaign in the suburbs of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. This should be enough to get another Tusker beer, for the environmental cause.
However, the fundamental questions (gulp) pose us to think: Can this “green drinking” feel see the rise of “green bars” across the globe? Can you be satisfied that your revelry may actually be good for the environment because your beer was made in an energy-efficient brewery, and packaged in a light-weight bottle that reduces transportation fuel requirements? Is the world bracing for an abundant supply of “carbon neutral beer”?
Image credit: Erik Kristensen at Flickr under a Creative Commons license
