Environmental Leader

Anheuser-Busch InBev is putting in place a set of three-year goals for water conservation, recycling and energy use.

The effort, which is part of the brewing conglomerate’s Better World initiative, would have the company reduce its water use, as a proportion of production, by 30 percent (compared to 2007 levels), according to a press release.

AB InBev, which markets beers including Budweiser, Busch, Michelob, Beck’s, Brahma and more, in 2009 used about 4.3 hectoliters per hectoliter of beer produced. That’s down from 5.03 hectoliters in 2007. The company’s goal is to reach 3.5 hectoliters per hectoliter of beer produced at its global operations by 2012.

In 2008 – before its merger with InBev -Anheuser-Busch set a goal of using 4 hectoliters of water per hectoliter of beer produced.

The company’s Cartersville, Ga., facility has already achieved the water goal with its rate of 3.1 hectoliters per hectoliter of production in 2009.

As for energy use, the company plans to reduce emissions and electricity use by 10 percent per hectoliter of production.

As one example, last year the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Houston made plans to use landfill biogas as an alternative fuel source. The project should produce 70 percent of the facility’s energy needs.

In 2008, Anheuser-Busch set a goal to brew about one in seven beers, or over 5 billion 12.oz servings, with alternative energy by 2009 as part of its goal to run its U.S. operations on 15 percent renewable fuel by 2010.

AB InBev has new 99 percent goals for recycling and reusing materials by 2012. That compares to 97.2 percent in 2007 and 98 percent in 2009.

In other related news, AB InBev is opening new wastewater treatment plants in Russia this year.