How we're conserving water
- Implementing new, water efficient processes and purchasing water efficient equipment. For example, new pasteurisers and cooling towers at Castlemaine Perkins save 150,000 KL water per annum.
- Reviewing our processes which use water and applying cleaner production principles to continuously reduce consumption.
- Collection of bottle rinse water and overflow from pasteurisers and cooling towers.
- Installation of water recycling systems in our breweries to collect and treat various grades of water for use in other parts of the process such as cleaning of floors and as make up water for our boilers.
- Using waste water from our non-urban located sites for irrigation. For example, Swan Brewery has its own effluent treatment plant which allows all of the waste water after digestion to be used for irrigation of the lawns, gardens and adjacent golf course avoiding the need to use town water. St Hallett Winery in the Barossa Valley uses all of their waste water to irrigate an on-site 3.5 hectare woodlot as does Knappstein Winery in the Clare Valley.
Tooheys Brewery - Every Drop Counts Program
To find out more about Tooheys’ involvement in this water conservation program, click on the following links.
Every Drop Counts – Case Study 1
Every Drop Counts – Case Study 2
Castlemaine Perkins - Water Efficiency Management Program
Castlemaine Perkins is Queensland's major brewer and has been brewing beer on the Milton site since 1878. The company is one of eight breweries and seven wineries operated by Lion Nathan in Australia and New Zealand. The brewery is regarded by the community as a landmark, being Queensland’s longest standing brewing company and very much a part of Queensland's heritage. In fact, The XXXX and Mr. Fourex neon signs which light up the night skies of Brisbane have been heritage listed along with other items of historical significance.
Water is a vitally important resource for Castlemaine Perkins, because it’s one of the main raw materials needed to make beer. The drought that’s struck much of Australia and Queensland over the past few years has made us more aware than ever of the need to keep improving our water management practices.
Committed to maintaining high standards in water management and environmental stewardship, Castlemaine Perkins has been participating in Brisbane Water’s “Water Efficiency Management Programme” since it began in 2001. The programme has reinforced Castlemaine’s long-standing commitment to conserving water which dates back to 1990.
Over the past 15 years, Castlemaine Perkins has reduced its water consumption by 58% which means the brewery now benchmarks among the best of its type in the world. The improvements have been achieved through a combination of strategically targeted capital investments, productivity improvements and vigilance in managing water wastage through employee involvement.
As well as saving water, there’s an important flow-on effect. Every litre of water we save reduces our effluent discharge by an equivalent amount, which helps the environment and saves on treatment costs. In fact, we’ve reduced our effluent discharge per litre of beer packed by a massive 67% since 1990.
With leadership from the environmental team, Castlemaine has completed over 120 water saving projects since 1995 which have significantly reduced our water consumption, saved costs and benefited the environment.
Major projects have included:
- Installation of water meters around the site
- Installation of a resource management software system
- Installation of a water reclamation and recycling system. The “grey” water collected is used for irrigation, feed water for the boilers and cooling towers and hose down in process areas
- Replacement of cooling towers
- Increased high gravity brewing
- New high efficiency brewhouse installation
- Pasteuriser optimisation
However, it’s also the simple things which are really important and add up in the overall saving of water used on the site. These include re-using water at every opportunity, using sweeper machines rather than hosing for cleaning outdoor sealed areas, turning taps off during work breaks, not leaving hoses running and reporting leaks and wastage to management. In addition, training programs, our website and environmental notice board help to raise awareness, share ideas and instil a water saving culture and protection of the environment across the business.
Our water management programme is also strongly promoted externally to around 20,000 people per year through our $5 million Alehouse Visitors Facility. This features a display by Brisbane Water and a chart which shows our performance and initiatives in saving what we consider to be our most precious resource.