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Tuesday, September 09, 2008

We are on the Recycle Alberta Website

Taken from: http://www.recycle.ab.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=36&Itemid=162

Think Green Success Story: Edmonton Brewery Eliminates Wastefeature sponsored by Waste Management of Canada Corp. back to top
Amber’s Brewing Company is getting rid of their garbage container. The Edmonton microbrewery’s efforts at recycling have been so successful that they have decided that an industrial garbage service is no longer needed. They already recycle as much as possible, in particular a huge amount of cardboard and shipping plastics. Beverage containers from the lunch room are collected by the Winnifred Stewart Society as a fundraiser – the society keeps the deposit refunds. The only thing Amber’s is still trying to deal with is a small amount of food waste (lunch leftovers and coffee grounds), which they would happily provide to somebody who would like to compost them. Amber’s street sign is made of recycled material. In fact, it is a recycled steel door that would otherwise have ended up in a landfill. It is now a lovingly hand‑painted sign. The door sign is made of a piece of stainless steel that was recycled when the brewery disassembled one of their tanks. Solar energy will provide power for lighting the door sign in the near future. The brewery is housed in a building with enormous south-facing windows. This means that artificial indoor lighting is rarely required, which makes for a naturally bright atmosphere. To save water, low-flow toilets were installed. Electric overhead door lifters were disconnected to go back to the “good old days” where doors were opened using a little elbow grease (no longer eating up standby “phantom loads” of power, either). All heat exchange water is stored while cooling, which makes it possible to recycle the heat. It is a two‑step process: the first portion of the water goes into a hot liquid tank for use in the next brewing batch, the second portion of the water is pumped into a secondary tank next to the visitor area, where the heat radiates out and helps to keep the room warm. Amber’s packages its product in recycled bottles, thereby saving lots of energy. They will only bottle in glass – theirs is one brew that will not be found in PET or aluminum containers. To reduce their CO2 footprint, as much malt as possible is purchased in Alberta. When spent, the malt is provided to local ranchers for livestock feed. To top it all off, most of Amber’s beer deliveries use a standard fuel/electric hybrid vehicle.Please contact



info@ambersbrewing.com