Latest News
30 May 2024
Beer brewer Grolsch pushes on with unwavering commitment to sustainability
2023 sustainability highlights published online
Koninklijke Grolsch once more achieved fantastic corporate sustainability results in 2023. One of the highlights was the launch of the “not-so-new” crate, made of 98% used Grolsch crates. What’s more, the Enschede-based brewer is also making waves with its water practices. These milestones are just a small selection of the 2023 sustainability highlights the brewer is publishing today.
Grolsch is deeply committed to sustainability and circularity, as is reflected clearly in packaging design and development. The new crates launched last year, for example, are made of no less than 98% recycled material sourced from old Grolsch crates. Smart new design features such as ribbing and embossing make the stickers easier to remove, keeping the crates looking the part for longer. “We’ve also made waves when it comes to water”, Sustainability Manager Susan Ladrak begins. “Over the past year, we’ve worked hard with regional partners to bring the “The Twentse Golf” to the next level.
De Twentse Golf Water community
Everyone needs clean water, including Grolsch. “De Twentse Golf is a collaborative venture geared towards a secure water supply for Twente, pushing key themes such as reducing water consumption and treating and reusing wastewater. Going forward, we will be looking into ways to treat our own wastewater and reuse it as processing water in the brewery. This will make a significant dent in our water consumption and help solve water scarcity in Twente”, Susan Ladrak explains.
2023 Highlights
But launching a new crate and all the brewery’s hard work with De Twentse Golf were just some of the laudable CSR results achieved by Grolsch last year. A few other highlights:
- We’ve been actively working on responsible alcohol consumption for years, and we require our employees to take an online alcohol training every three years. In 2023, we added face-to-face training to bolster the impact of the training programme. 100% of employees attended this new course;
- By using heat from Twence - we managed to reduce our carbon emissions by 74% compared to 2021, as well as providing 565 households with green gas;
- Some 220 colleagues rolled up their sleeves as part of our volunteer programme ‘Tijd Voor Elkaar’, which encourages employees to spend two working days a year doing volunteer work. Together, they spent 1485 hours volunteering for 31 different projects, with our parent company Asahi setting aside a fixed reward for every hour of volunteer work, which we get to donate to a charity of our choosing, in 2023, we raised over € 17,000.
- More than 85% of our packaging for the Dutch market is refillable or recyclable, and we’ve reduced foil use for our can pallets by 65%;
- Having signed a Virtual Power Purchase Agreement, or VPPA, the brewery can now switch from European wind power to domestic solar power. The visitor car park has also been expanded with a solar carport and more charging stations were installed at the brewery;
- At the brewery itself, we rolled out the Icare programme to increase safety awareness;
- By making even smarter use of inland shipping for our exports to the UK, we’ve managed to further curb carbon emissions for transportation.
Results available online
Want to know more about Grolsch's results and sustainability & CSR activities in 2023, or our objectives for 2024? Check out the 2023 online annual report and the explanatory notes on our website.
