Zero Waste

MillerCoors believes that waste is simply a resource out of place, and we’re committed to finding ways to reuse and recycle whenever we can.

		Ninety-eight percent of all brewery waste – including glass, paperboard, plastics, metals and byproducts - is recycled or reused.  We look for ways to reuse or recycle the majority of the byproducts created during the brewing process.  Currently, leftover barley malt – or spent grain – is sold to local farms for animal feed.  Brewers’ yeast is sold to food companies for use in canned soups, gravies, frozen entrees and pet food.  And, some byproducts are used to fertilize hay fields on site.

Our employees play a big role in moving MillerCoors toward zero waste operations.  At our Georgia brewery, employees formed a recycling and sustainability team that created a wood recycling program that allows for all wood scrap to be turned into yard mulch and a new program for recycling plastics of all kinds – hard hats, safety glasses, conveyor chains and stretch wrap.

Did you know spent yeast produces ethanol during the brewing process?  Since 1995, our Golden brewery has been extracting ethanol from their waste and converting it into 200-proof, fuel-grade ethanol.  It’s then sold to front-range refineries.  In 2008 alone, they produced 1.7 million gallons.  .