Corinne Goff-Lavielle
To brew beer you need water, and water is a natural resource that
Heineken France wants its breweries, its employees and everyone
else to use consciously and sparingly.
N FRANCE YOUNG 'WATER CITIZENS* ASK YOU TO JOIN THEM
Heineken's French operating company has
gone to great lengths to reduce the water
used in its production process, both through
its awareness programmes and through tech
nological improvements. The brewery in
Schiltigheim now uses only 4.3 litres of water
to produce one litre of beer, quite a feat if
you consider that the average for breweries
across Europe is 7 litres of water per litre of
beer. 'But water is important to everybody's
future, not just the company's. People have
to realise that water is a valuable resource
which has to be conserved. The best way
to spread that message is through children',
says Corinne Goff-Lavielle, Communication
Manager at Heineken France.
Waste water situation
performance of Heineken world-wide,
'With children you are looking to the future,'
she says. 'The citizens of tomorrow are more
aware of environmental issues than their
parents.'
The 'Let's Be Water Citizens' campaign was
launched in October 2001, when Heineken
France invited a dozen 8-12 year old repre
sentatives of Schiltigheim's Children's Council
to become 'water citizens'. They were given
the opportunity to talk to experts, so that
they could learn more about the water issues
at stake. The children were asked to develop
ideas that would help spread awareness
to the rest of the town's population and
convince people to become 'water citizens'
themselves.
NO TREATMENT ON SITE, DISCHARGE
TO SURFACE WATER 32
NO TREATMENT ON SITE,
TREATED BY MUNICIPALITY 26
TREATMENT ON SITE, DISCHARGE
TO SURFACE WATER 27
TREATMENT ON SITE, AND TREAT
MENT BY MU NICIPAL PLANT 15
The Children's Council came up with several
ideas to raise the town's awareness of and
concern for water. One initiative, which won
a national award, was to present the issues
through animated cartoons. This award,
together with funding from Heineken, gave
the children the means to produce four
cartoons, which have since been broadcast
on local television and are also expected to
go on national television.
The children's main message in these
cartoons is that water is an irreplaceable
resource which is essential to life and needs
to be cherished, now and in the future.
One cartoon, for example, presents a situa
tion where people keep taking baths until
all the water in the world is used up and
everyone dies. Another points to the danger
of water pollution, showing how contami
nants in water used in preparing food ends
up in your body. Every cartoon asks the
viewer to become a 'water citizen' and use
water sparingly, joining a movement that
aims to conserve the available water
resources.
'The children are trying to make people
understand that water isn't abundant,
it's scarce,' explains Corinne Goff-Lavielle.
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