Anheuser-Busch increases recycling

Anheuser-Busch announced that even with production increases, the weight of material it contributes to community landfills from its 12 United States breweries has been reduced by nearly 22 percent (or approximately 2,400 tons) in 2008 compared to the same time period last year. All of this is part of the brewer’s ongoing efforts to recycle at a rate of more than 99 percent.

“Our employees are to be commended for their efforts to find ways to recycle and reuse materials throughout our operations,” said Peter Kraemer, vice president of operations for Anheuser-Busch, Inc. “At each of our breweries, our people are looking for ways to use fewer materials and keep the solid waste we do generate out of landfills.”

Recycling at Anheuser-Busch is a tradition that began in the late 1800s when the company first recycled brewers’ grain into cattle feed. The items reused and recycled at the breweries include spent brewers’ grain, stretch wrap, aluminum, glass, cardboard, plastics, paper, metals, pallets and beechwood chips. This amounted to nearly four billion pounds in 2007.

Anheuser-Busch is also expanding its use of alternative fuels and announced earlier this year that more than five billion 12 oz. servings of beer are expected to be brewed using renewable fuel by the end of 2009.