We would like to secure the availability of water and reduce its use.
Sustainability highlights 2022Manager Engineering
"Our water goals are ambitious. Since 2005 we have achieved water reduction of 33%. In 2020 our ambitions is to achieve a reduction of 36% compared to 2005."
Our ambition is to produce more beer with even less water. We always want to improve and strive to cut back the amount of water we use per hectolitre of beer. At the same time, we will continue to work towards guaranteeing the availability of high-quality water now and in the future.
We have not achieved all of our efficiency targets because we had a lower than expected volume performance in 2022.
Objective
Beer/water efficiency 3.5 hl/hl
Result
Achieved result in 2022 3.97 hl/hl.
Objective
Optimise cooling installation for water consumption.
Result
Extra water was needed in the first 6 months of 2022 due to passivation of new condensers. Adjustments were made in the second half of the year so that water can be reused permanently; we therefore achieved a reduction of 0,05 hl/hl.
Objective
Start testing reprocessing of effluent into process water.
Result
Study conducted in collaboration with various parties, conceptual design for installation completed. Coordination with water authority/municipality will follow in 2023, after which base design can be developed. The proposed technology has been proven, so it was decided in 2022 not to carry out a test.
Objective
Optimise CIP brewery-wide.
Result
Carried out a study into optimisation of CIP processes with University of Twente. Clear summary of improvement options provided of which selected initiatives will be implemented in 2023.
Objective
Source water vulnerability assessment (SWVA).
Result
We carried out an extensive water risk study in 2022 to examine the short and long-term availability of water for the brewery. This included the effects of climate change and limited availability of local drinking water companies as a back-up.
Our country has increasingly faced drought and water scarcity in recent years. To raise water awareness and invest together in new living labs and business cases that contribute to Twente's resilience to drought and water scarcity, several parties have joined forces. Under the name 'Our Blue Gold', Waterschap Vechtstromen, Vitens, Koninklijke Grolsch, University of Twente, Saxion University of Applied Sciences and Pioneering Foundation are teaming up to tackle water scarcity in the Twente region.
Within the Packaging Department, we have implemented short interval control for the larger consumers - our bottle rinsing machines. The water consumption of these machines is registered on an hourly basis. Deviations from the target are clearly visible. Because standards including quick fix routines are available, adjustments can be made quickly.
Various initiatives have been set in motion within our production departments to ensure that a sustainable way of thinking is or becomes the standard with all colleagues. One example is the daily discussing of water and energy reduction at filling line/area level, so that deviations can be spotted more quickly and actions can be taken to solve the problem quickly. There is also a weekly consultation between our sustainability engineers and our operators to further develop and implement ideas and initiatives from the teams, resulting in the realization of sustainable savings. Brainstorming sessions have in addition been held with all operators, technicians and team leaders from packaging.
By optimizing the settings of our vacuum pumps in the filling lines, we have achieved a significant reduction on several filling lines.
Our Packaging department works with the ‘get basics right’ programme. In recent years, we have focused on 5S audits, among other things, as well as making sure that all required follow-up actions are taken quickly in order to resolve any issues as quickly as possible, reducing unnecessary water use.