MillerCoors Brewery Goes Landfill Free

MillerCoors Brewery in Golden, CO
Photo Courtesy of Jorge DFW

MillerCoors is the largest brewery in the nation and has recently revolutionized its waste processing system. The Golden brewery creates 100 tons of waste per year and now recycles or re-uses nearly all of it.

The revolution in waste processing was due to the sustainability ethics of one man, a factory worker from Ohio. His name is Kelly Harris who was raised in a family centered on eco-conscious living. He was instilled with the message that you only have one planet, you had better be sure to take care of it.

He redesigned the company's business plan to reduce the amount of waste generated. His plan included easier efforts to incorporate waste materials into beneficial uses, such as animal food. Harris realized that their sustainability efforts had to go outside of their immediate operations to include those processes which yielded their supplies. This line of thought led MillerCoors to work collaboratively with the Nature Conservancy in an effort to reduce the amount of water needed to grow hops.

MillerCoors' ultimate goal is to produce zero waste. They are almost there now, but still incinerate non-recycleables. This is an example of how big companies can do more to help solve or at least reduce environmental problems.

As Harris signs each email: "Save the earth, its the only planet with beer."