There are many different industries turning towards sustainability and being eco friendly.  Alcohol is no different, and with a recent rise in customer demand for these kinds of products, it is no wonder the alcohol industry is following suit.

There are several ways different alcohol companies are doing this.

TRU Organic Vodka are even using the pull of eco-friendly products as a marketing tool, saying they’ll plant a tree for every bottle of vodka sold.  That’s a pretty good promise to shift more products!

TRU is also tackling sustainability in other ways.  Their bottles use 25% less glass and their labels are printed on corn fibre with a soy-based ink.

This is a great way to both reduce waste and support an environmentally conscious company ethos.

On a larger scale, Southern California based Sierra Nevada brewery is working with E-Fuel to create fuel for on-site vehicle power. 

Using E-Fuel’s Efuel100 Micro Fueler, the beer waste provided by Sierra Nevada will be used to turn this alcohol into ethanol, which is then turned into power.

Sierra Nevada have long been supporters of sustainability and annually donate 1.6 million gallons of beer to be used by farmers as dairy feed.  This is great way to invest in community, as well as helping the environment.

A bit closer to home, we have similar projects.  The Scotch Whisky Industry is leading the way with some recent innovations in environmental machinery.

An Edinburgh based company called Celtic Renewables ha been given a £1 million grant from the UK government to continue their efforts to commercially produce low carbon fuel from by-products of Scotch Whisky production.

A new consortium called the Combination of Rothes Distillers has also been set up with the prospect of tackling climate change.

This collection of six distillers have already built a brand new biomass plant, were enough excess energy to fuel 9,000 homes is being created from the by-product of 16 different distilleries.

Great steps have been made in the alcohol industry and progress is happening every day.  This is great news for those of us who want to enjoy our favourite drink knowing it’s actually helping the planet!