Waste Reduction

More than 50 years ago, Bill Coors offered consumers a penny per can to entice them to recycle their beer cans. Today, we carry on that spirit in our waste reduction and recycling efforts.

		Three years ago, we set a goal to reduce waste 15 percent by 2015.  By the end of 2010, we achieved an overall reduction of more than 30 percent and four of our major breweries - Ohio, Virginia, California and North Carolina - went all the way: none of their waste goes to landfill.  We're proud but we're not stopping there.  We set a new goal for 2015 of a 50 percent reduction in waste to landfill (compared to 2008).

Reusing and Recycling

We reuse or recycle more than 99 percent of our brewery waste, from the protein-rich residual brewer's grain and spent yeast to glass cullet, aluminum, plastic, wood and other materials. We turn "waste" into energy, compost and soil conditioner for our own use, and send remaining by-products of our breweries to companies that use them for many other beneficial purposes. In addition to recycling and reusing more than 99 percent of the waste it generates, the Golden brewery manufactures pure ethanol from waste beer.

When it comes time to recycle large volumes of packaging and production materials, we make the process efficient for our breweries and our recyclers. In 2010, we invested in machines for baling cardboard, crushing glass, and bricking aluminum so that industrial recyclers will pay us to take them away in volume at our Milwaukee brewery. We estimate that this investment will reduce waste to landfill by nearly 200 tons per year and result in cost savings of more than $100,000 annually.

Eliminating Sources of Waste

In other cases, we find ways to avoid waste all together. More than ten years ago, we began using plastic pallets rather than wood pallets for case goods. When the plastic pallets need to be replaced, they go back to our supplier to be recycled into new pallets.