Earth Day is an opportunity to observe the world around us and consider what else we can do to preserve our resources and protect our environment. It’s also a chance to take a step back and see how far we’ve come and where we can go. We’re doing just that at MillerCoors.
Since 1873, Coors Banquet has been brewed in Golden, Colorado in the same brewery by generations of my family. This year marks a major milestone for our company and America – 50 years ago my uncle, Bill Coors, introduced the United States’ first all-aluminum can and our company’s recycling program.
Aluminum, which is 100 percent recyclable, allowed the company to deliver great-tasting beer to consumers without needing pasteurization.
It also reduced fuel used to transport our products by reducing weight. That same year, the brewery paid one penny for every can returned, sparking a nationwide recycling movement.
Fifty years later, we’re even more committed to recycling and environmental responsibility. In fact, MillerCoors facilities are committed to zero-waste operations.
We believe with great beer comes great responsibility, so we make an effort to recycle or reuse most of our packaging and brewery waste. Our waste beer becomes ethanol used for alternative fuel cars.
Spent grain becomes cattle feed. And nearly all of the glass, paper, board, plastics and metals used during the brewing and production process are recycled or reused, diverting thousands of tons of waste from landfills.
We also save the equivalent of 622 tons of aluminum per year due to a small reduction in the diameter of some aluminum cans. As my uncle Bill still says, “Waste is a resource out of place.”
We also have a kinship with water; it’s the basis for the quality of our beer. For Coors Banquet, we use local ingredients from local resources whenever possible, including water directly from the Rocky Mountains and high country barley.
In addition, we work with our barley growers to conserve water while producing barley that meets our stringent standards, and we recognize their creative conservation practices. We also have teams dedicated to analyzing how we can maximize and improve our environmental efficiencies every day.
As part of my family heritage, I see it as our responsibility for MillerCoors to continue to push conservation to the forefront and encourage everyone at every level to do their part in preserving our resources and environment.
None of our efforts would have progressed without people believing in and adopting new ways of thinking, like the notion of recycling 50 years ago.
This Earth Day, I’d like to again ask our loyal consumers to take the same approach to preserving our resources as we take in crafting our beer. This can range from participating in local, environmental clean-ups, starting recycling programs or simply starting to recycle.
Or, like MillerCoors, you can support RecycleBank (www.recyclebank.com), which increases awareness of recycling and the recycling process, while offering incentives for the amount of recycled products.
This organization alone has diverted more than 140,000 tons of recyclables from landfills – important work considering that, according to GreenHQ, the recovery rate for aluminum cans is at 45 percent, down from 68 percent in 1992.
Please join me by proposing a toast to Earth Day, the 50th anniversary of the aluminum can and a renewed commitment to environmental preservation (just be sure to recycle the can when you’re through).
Pete Coors is chairman of MillerCoors. EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column and has not been edited.
