0
Transition towards more
circularity in our materials
136
Drop the C - reducing CO2 emissions
Zero waste to landfill in production
9. Landfill
Circular plastics
Circular promotions and events
Heineken N.V.
Annual Report 2020
Introduction
Report of the
Executive Board
Report of the
Supervisory Board
Financial
Statements
Sustainability
Review
Other
Information
Our contribution
to the SDGs:
12.2
Sustainable use of
natural resources
12.5
Reduce
waste generation
Our impact occurs across the value chain -
from the materials we use to make our
products to those which become waste.
Beyond water and energy, other key inputs to
our products are:
- Ingredients - the agricultural resources
that become our products and organic
co-products.
- Packaging materials - the metal, plastic,
glass and paper that goes into our packaging.
- Point of sale and event materials - like
parasols, tables, fridges, glasses
and festival cups.
Our material flows may be direct from our own
production and indirect through our suppliers,
customers, contractors and service providers.
We aim to eliminate, reduce, reuse, recycle
and re-purpose our materials to support the
transition to a circular economy This is in line
with the principles of the Ellen MacArthur
Foundation, of which we are a member.
Our ambition is to increase the circularity of
our products and give a second life to our input
and output materials. We are in the process
of defining and formalising a programme to
achieve this ambition.
We aim to eliminate disposal to landfill of
the waste generated at our production sites.
The majority of our production waste is
comprised of organic co-products like brewers'
grain, surplus yeast, anaerobic sludge from
wastewater, spent kieselguhr and spent alcohol.
We optimise the value of these waste streams
by applying the waste hierarchy. Our preference
is to use our nutritious co-products for human
or animal feed. Where that is not possible,
it may be recycled into new materials or used
as soil fertiliser. In some cases, we turn it
into energy through anaerobic digestion or
combustion (burning).
In 2020, 118 of our 166 sites were landfill free.
Less than 2% of our total waste ended up as
landfill (2019: 3%). This table shows where our
other 98% waste from production ended up (the
higher the better):
Waste Hierarchy - in order of preference
2. Human consumption
3. Animal feed
4. Materials
5. Compost/soil improvement
6. Energy (biogas)
7. Combustion with energy recovery
8. Combustion without heat recovery
Turning sludge to organic
fertiliser in Ethiopia
The sludge by-product of our wastewater
treatment has good soil fertilising properties.
However, sludge can have a bad reputation
as it is often associated with human waste.
Having faced challenges disposing of its waste
sludge, our brewery in Harar partnered with
a local hospital to challenge misconceptions.
They compared crops grown without fertiliser,
using chemical fertiliser and using our sludge
as fertiliser. The results were positive and the
approach is now being expanded to other
breweries. Agricultural teams are also being
trained in communities across Ethiopia.
Plastics make up a small portion of our total
packaging waste, but reducing plastic waste is
still a high priority.
We are piloting initiatives to lower our plastic
footprint. We aim to replace consumer-facing
plastics with sustainable alternatives, light
weighting our plastic bottles and increase the
recycled content of our packaging to close
material loops.
- Green Grip packaging in the UK has
replaced plastic rings and shrink wrap with
a recyclable cardboard topper. This will
eliminate over 500 tonnes of plastic each year
- the equivalent of 94 million plastic bags.
- In Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia, plastic
has been cut 10% by weight through light
weighting plastic bottles.
- In Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland,
shrink film with 50% recycled content from
post-consumer waste has been introduced.
- In Burundi, a uniform black crate made
from regrinds of old coloured crates has
been rolled out across all brands.
We are engaging with suppliers to rethink the
items we place at customer venues. For example,
we have designed a parasol using recycled PET
covers and poles made of 70% recycled aluminium.
53,000 re-designed parasols were supplied in
France and Spain in 2020, cutting virgin plastic
by 187 tonnes (equivalent to 14 million 1.5l
plastic bottles) and using 257 tonnes of recycled
aluminium (equivalent to 19.6 million cans).
We also aim to stimulate positive action through
circular events. For example, the Heineken and
Natura brands launched an unprecedented
partnership at Rock in Rio in 2019 to give
a second life to 2.5 million plastic cups.
The recycled cups have now been made into
cosmetic packaging for Natura products, which
were launched to market in 2020.
Learn more about this topic on our website
