Diageo reuses waste from gin manufacturing

In an effort to send zero waste from its manufacturing facilities to landfills, Diageo, a spirits, wine and beer company, announced that its Plainfield, Illinois facility is implementing a new byproduct reuse initiative that will send berries and seeds from gin production to Waste Management, Inc.’s local composting site. In addition, Diageo is expanding its paper-recycling program in Plainfield and the company is launching a new initiative that converts municipal solid waste into power and steam instead of sending it to a landfill.

Together, these initiatives will deliver considerable energy savings and keep more than 400 tons of waste out of landfills annually.

“By expanding our paper recycling program, finding innovative ways to reuse byproduct, and converting solid waste into power and steam, we are making positive strides towards establishing zero waste to landfill – a central goal in Diageo’s commitment to sustainability,” said Dave Wengerhoff, senior vice president of Diageo’s Brand Technical Center.

At the Plainfield facility, the paper-recycling program in the technical center was expanded to include cardboard, plastic wrap, bottles and Styrofoam.

The expanded recycling program and reuse initiative will help the Plainfield facility keep nearly 200 tons out of the landfill annually.

The byproduct reuse initiative, meanwhile, is already under way as the facility is storing the seeds and berries on site in extra containers until the compost site opens in April.

At the Amherstberg plant, all of the site’s municipal solid waste, previously destined for landfills, is now being sent to a refuse-derived fuel waste-to-energy plant. The solid waste is used to power a steam plant that generates up to 68 megawatts of electricity, which is sold to the Detroit Edison Corporation. By using this process, approximately 245 tons of waste will be kept out of the landfill each year and, in total, 100 percent of the site’s waste to landfill is now being diverted to help create energy.