4
Yes, we can: promoting recycling
25
In 2010, the Association of Hungarian Brewers introduced
a recycling scheme for aluminium cans. Three of the country's
largest brewers, including Heineken, bought and installed 24 return
vending machines and located them in supermarkets. In 2010 some
1.7 million cans were returned, which is approximately 0.3 per cent
of cans produced by the three brewers.
"This is a good result considering the machines have been
operational for less than a year," says Éva Kiss, Corporate Affairs
Communications Manager at Heineken Hungary. Some
machines received 2,500 cans a day and others as many as
10,000. At a rate of 2,500 cans a day, the machines pay for
themselves in as little as nine days.
The scheme has a number of built-in incentives. Consumers
who return the cans receive a small amount of cash and the three
brewers saved EUR100,000 in taxes in 2010. The cans are collected
and delivered to the country's recycling company Öko-Pannon,
of which Heineken was a founding partner.
Buying the machines and getting people to use them was relatively
easy. The hard part was getting all brewers aligned and convincing
retailers to participate. The work was well worth it. "The project
shows the government that the beer industry is serious about
the environment," says Éva.
The scheme is small for now, but the mere fact that it is working
is a success. Environmental consciousness in Hungary is still in its
infancy, and up until now only 15 per cent of cans were returned
to recycling points. "People have started to collect cans for the
machines, instead of simply throwing them out," says Éva.
The scheme will continue in 2011, when the three partners aim
to collect 18 millions cans, or 3.6 per cent of next year's projected
output. This ensures a cleaner and more sustainable environment
and would also save the three partners around EUR1 million
in taxes.
Distribution that's miles better
In distribution, reducing our carbon footprint
means driving fewer kilometres, using more
efficient equipment and working with partners
that share our sustainability ambition.
During 2010, we designed a carbon footprint
model for distribution operations that will help
logistics managers around the world to measure,
report and identify C02 improvement opportunities.
Rollout of the model to our businesses will start
in 2011.
At the same time, we realised that we can only
achieve large sustainability improvements if
we engage the right partners. Therefore, we
are incorporating sustainability criteria in the
procurement process for transportation services.
We are also working with other companies to
improve the environmental performance of the
transport industry across different modalities.
With regard to ocean freight, following meetings in
2010, we have now joined the Clean Cargo Working
Group, which brings together shipping companies
and shippers in a joint effort to reduce the
environmental impact of container transport.
As for road freight, we have been supporting the
development of the SmartWay concept in Europe.
As part of this initiative, transport companies
and shippers will monitor and report the carbon
footprint of road transport. Shippers, like
Heineken, will use this information to procure
transportation services, while transportation
companies will benefit from carbon efficiency
scoring and sharing of best practices.
Taking steps to reduce our footprint
Improvements begin with information. That is why
in 2010, we analysed the global carbon footprint
of some of our products. This showed that
packaging, cooling and distribution account for
approximately 70 per cent of the Company's total
carbon footprint.
In 2010, we also further developed the
methodology for calculating our baseline carbon
footprint. This will enable our Operating Companies
to monitor performance on a consistent basis and
to demonstrate clearly the reductions we make.
The tool has been tested in the UK, France, Italy
and the Netherlands and will be rolled out to our
European Operating Companies in 2011. We will
continuously update this model with available
information from our suppliers and other partners
in the value chain.
Heineken N.V. Sustainability Report 2010
Ü'egvlssa,
