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Welcome to the world of A. Le Coq
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WE WILL REDUCE OUR CO2 FOOTPRINT
As of the beginning of 2020, all our products are only produced with renewable energy.
We can all make climate-friendly decisions in our daily lives, above all by consuming less energy based on fossil fuels. Many countries are committed to tackling the issue of climate change. Based on the Paris Climate Agreement, Estonia’s goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030 compared to the year 1990, and by 80% by 2050. Furthermore, it is important to implement cleaner and smarter technologies and increase the use of domestic renewable energy sources.
In A. Le Coq, we have taken a big step towards reducing our CO2 footprint. We abandoned the use of electricity based on oil shale and substantially reduced the use of thermal energy based on natural gas. Additionally, we have implemented the energy management system ISO 50001 in order to make our energy and resource use more efficient.
We only use renewable energy
As of the beginning of 2020, all our products are only produced with renewable energy – wind power, hydropower and solar power. All of these are characterised by two essential aspects – carbon neutrality and renewable resources.
The electricity consumption of A. Le Coq per year is 10,526 MWh, which is equal to the average annual electricity consumption of 3,500 households. Formerly, we used a combination of oil shale and renewable energy, but we are now replacing it in full with renewable energy. As a result, the carbon footprint of A. Le Coq will be reduced by 7,976 tons per year. Switching one plant to renewable energy gives the same result as if more the whole population of Valga took this step.
We created a solar farm for the logistics centre
In the beginning of 2021, we created our own solar farm for the logistics centre, which allows us to actually produce more renewable energy. The annual electricity production of the created solar park is up to 60 MWh, and the electricity obtained from it covers a significant part of the needs of the logistics center in the summer months. Thanks to using the solar farm, our CO2 footprint will be reduced by 75 tons.
We direct the energy from the flue gases of the boiler plant into heating the production buildings
In the beginning, of 2020, we installed an economiser in front of the stack of the steam boiler plant, which directs the thermal energy received from cooling flue gases into the heating system of the production buildings and reduces the use of energy by 4%. Using thermal energy this way reduces our CO2 footprint by 128 tons. That is how much an average locomotive weighs.
We will build a unique biogas plant by 2022
We are constantly making production processes more efficient and optimise our use of resources. Effluent is constantly created in our plant in the course of production. The new biogas plant helps us separate solid matter from effluent and transform it into renewable bioenergy. According to calculations, we can replace nearly 11% of our need for natural gas with renewable energy thanks to the biogas plant, and as a result, our CO2 footprint will be reduced by 341 tons. This weighs more than a big airliner!
Energy Track Energy Management System and ISO 50001
We have invested in the innovative Energy Track Energy Management System, resulting in significantly increasing the efficient use of the existing energy, and we are also in possession of the ISO 50001 Energy Management Certificate.
We are happy to conclude that thanks to all the environmentally friendly activities, the total annual CO2 footprint of A. Le Coq is reduced by 8,520 tons, which is the same as the weight of 3,000 elephants.
| Renewable energy | 7,976 tons |
| Directing the energy from the flue gases of the boiler plant into heating the production buildings | 128 tons |
| Building the biogas plant | 341 tons |
| Solar farm | 75 tons |
| TOTAL | 8,520 tons |
WE WILL REDUCE THE USE OF NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES
Reducing the use of plastic is an important goal for us.
Transition
to
100%
green electricity
AURA
bottles
100%
recycled
plastic
Beer
multipacks
100%
renewable material or CO2 neutral plastic
For decades, the entire world has used unlimited quantities of non-renewable resources to ensure economic growth. In order to ensure the sustainability of the planet, it is essential to reduce the use of non-renewable resources and to increase the use of renewable energy sources, reusable raw materials and natural materials.
In A. Le Coq, our goal is to reduce the use of natural gas, oil shale and oil. In addition to fully transitioning to renewable energy and building our own biogas plant, reducing the use of plastic is an important goal for us.
We will be the first to only use water bottles made of fully recycled plastic
In the spring of 2021, Aura water bottles made of fully recycled plastic will hit store shelves. In the production of these bottles, we do not produce new bottles from oil, but recycle the plastic already used in the beverage industry. This step helps us produce 4.5 million bottles – that means 120,300 tons less of newly created plastic. The most important thing about recycling plastic is savings in energy.
We will replace multipack film with cardboard or CO2 neutral plastic
The multipacks of all A. Le Coq beers are packaged in cardboard produced from renewable resources or coverd with CO2 neutral plastic.
WE WILL CONTRIBUTE TO CLEANER NATURE
Let’s not forget forests! The cardboard used in our multipacks is FSC certified.
The generation of ever more waste globally is one of the most acute international environmental problems. We can all contribute to keeping nature cleaner by sorting waste as much as possible, reusing materials and reducing the use of materials that do not degrade in nature, such as plastic. According to Greenpeace, the global annual production of plastic in the world is 9 billion kilos, of which 10% ends up in the sea. 70% of this plastic drowns, while the remainder becomes debris in the sea and finally reaches the waste patches in the gyres of the Pacific Ocean. We in A. Le Coq have made significant changes in order to reduce waste generation on our planet.
We have increased the proportion of reusable bottles and packaging
We produce more than 106.7 million packages every year, with glass bottles forming the majority of it. By constantly reducing the proportion of one-time-use bottles, we have, year-on-year, increased the proportion of reusable glass bottles in the total amount of glass packaging to nearly 93%.
We will ensure a full transition to paper drinking straws
We will ensure a full transition to paper drinking straws in the first half of 2021, which means that 4.1 million plastic drinking straws per year will not be produced. This is our contribution to ensure that even less small trash items made of plastic end up in the nature.
We will assume responsibility for cleaner water
We will catch and direct rainwater into a separate rainwater collector and thereby reduce the general load on the water system of the city. By 2022, we will build a wastewater management system along with the biogas plant, which helps us reduce the load of organic compounds on the water system of Tartu by nearly 80%.
We will provide the city with high-quality water that is simple to purify and release into circulation again.
WE WILL INCREASE THE REUSE OF MATERIALS AND OUR CONTRIBUTION TO CIRCULAR ECONOMY
We direct 100% of the packaging waste created in the plant into reuse, such as paperboard, plastic, aluminium and glass.
Our priority is using environmentally friendly materials and the reuse of materials, which allows us to reduce the use of non-renewable resources and to optimise the use of the existing resources. This is crucial in order to ensure a cleaner environment and a more sustainable world.
We promote the circular economy
We are engaged in a circular economy in cooperation with the food industry and agricultural companies as well as a local biogas producer.
More than 8,000 tons of brewer’s grains are created in A. Le Coq annually, which are directed into producing cow fodder. Furthermore, there is a surplus of ca. 600 tons of yeast in the course of producing yeast for brewing beer, which we send to the local bioenergy plant in Tartu for producing biomethane, which is then directed to the transport sector. This step ensures that waste from brewing beer now becomes either bioenergy or milk. In the previous year, 41,000 Nm3 of biomethane was produced from waste from brewing beer.
If a passenger car were to use this particular biomethane for driving, this quantity would be enough to travel around the world 12 times.
We will release packaging back into circulation
We have joined Eesti Pandipakend and Eesti Taaskasutusorganisatsioon (ETO) which direct more than 106.7 million packaging items made from plastic, aluminium, glass and cardboard produced by A. Le Coq back into circulation. 90% of the beverages produced into glass bottles in A. Le Coq are bottled into reused bottles.
We direct 100% of the packaging waste created in the plant into reuse, such as paperboard, plastic, aluminium and glass.
WE WILL ASSUME AN EVEN GREATER RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF PEOPLE
Our goal is to reduce the proportion of sugar in our product portfolio by 15% by the year 2025.
Ensuring product safety is vital in the beverage industry. All our products are produced in compliance with strict requirements – pursuant to applicable legislation, rules, the ISO 9001 Standard and HACCP (hazard analysis) quality standards. In order to ensure the long-term success of products, their taste and way of production is just as important. Product development that takes into consideration the preferences and expectations of consumers is definitely one of the grounds of success of our century-old company.
Reduction of sugar
Every day, we strive to ensure that our product development is responsible and supports the endeavours of people to follow a healthy diet. We constantly pay attention to reducing added sugar in our products. Our goal is to reduce the proportion of sugar in our product portfolio by 15% by the year 2025 compared to 2015. In 2020, the amount of annually added sugar has been reduced thanks to changes or substitutions in the recipes for sweetened drinks by 231 tons.
Healthy products with an added value
We have established the objective of constantly developing healthy products with an added value and different functionalities (vitamins, minerals, proteins, etc.). When creating each new product, we proceed from the principle of making it healthier: less alcohol, smaller packaging, fewer additives, more natural components and more functionality. We do not use any azo dyes in our products.
Package safety
We pay great attention to package safety. In order to comply with higher hygiene requirements for packaging, we have covered all single canned products with protective foil from 2020 and have used supplementary UV disinfection in order to protect the products from various environmental factors (viruses and bacteria).
Responsible consumption
As a producer of alcoholic beverages, we assume responsibility towards society and support and encourage initiatives that promote zero tolerance for excessive consumption of alcohol and alcohol abuse in general. We have been a long-standing partner of the Midsummer Day campaign “Selge Grupijuht” initiated by Kuku Radio in 2016. It is important for us to be a supporter of this initiative and promote the message that alcohol consumption and driving a vehicle should never be tolerated. We emphasise both on our products and in our marketing activities that alcoholic beverages are not to be associated with pregnant women, minors and driving vehicles. Every year, we constantly increase the proportion of non-alcoholic products in our entire product portfolio and the number of non-alcoholic products in the alcohol category. While the amount of non-alcoholic beverages in the alcohol category was 76,000 litres, it grew almost 26 times to nearly 2 million litres by the year 2021.
