THE IMPORTANCE OF STAYING SUSTAINABLE IN A TOUGH MARKET

Craft brewing rode a wave of popularity—and great sales—for decades. Impressive annual growth fueled innovations in beer varieties and flavors as well as production processes. And when the beer was flowing, it seemed easy to allocate resources toward corporate values including diversity, sustainability, and community engagement.

Unfortunately, over the last several years a maturing marketing and slowing economy have combined to put craft brewers in tough financial situation. The tap has dried up, and now all brewers must carefully examine every aspect of their business, from operations to marketing to location and everything in between.

Where does that leave sustainability?

As you look for ways to trim expenses and eliminate inefficiencies, it’s easy to view sustainability as inessential initiative that’s easy to cut. But there are many reasons why that’s not in the best interest of your business and long-term success. While eco-friendly business practices may not directly connect to profits, there a multitude of reason to maintain your sustainability efforts.

Green-minded Consumers

We’ve all seen the numbers. Regardless of which study you look at or which research you trust, it all points to one thing: Sustainability factors into the buying decisions of today’s consumers. And it’s not just millennials—many studies show that more than 60% of all respondents consider sustainability when making a purchase.

INTEGRATING SUSTAINABLE VALUES INTO YOUR BUSINESS—BEFORE YOU’VE BEEN REQUIRED TO—GIVES YOU AN EDGE IN TODAY’S GREEN-MINDED MARKETPLACE

Healthier Communities

We’re going to guess that you are tightly integrated within the community that you serve. That’s because it’s not just where your consumers live, it’s frequently where employees live as well Protecting your community’s natural resources is beneficial to everyone involved. Whether it’s reducing energy use, recycling, or more efficiently managing your wastewater, the changes you make can help the entire community thrive.

Circular Systems

Sustainably managing your resources is often leads to efficiencies and cost savings. For example, the more water that goes down the drain, the more new water required to grow crops, craft beer, or wash equipment. Compact, on-site water treatment solutions remove excessive nutrients and pollutants from wastewater, allowing it to meet municipal water system standards and even be repurposed for watering crops. Solids that are sidestreamed can be sold as feed or compost.

Creating a strategic roadmap for sustainability.

Your business isn’t like any other. That’s why it’s critical to analyze your specific challenges, goals, and opportunities when it comes to sustainability. Once you know where you’re going to focus—Recycling? Water? Energy?—you can follow the simple steps below to implement your initiatives in the smartest way.

1. Get a Plan

Talk to a professional to get the right information and figure out the gaps between where you are and where you need to be.

2. Initiate the First Actions

Go for the “low hanging fruit.” You don’t have to completely retool your operations to start making a positive impact. L

3. Implement Major Changes

This is the big step, where you put in the right tool for the right job to achieve your sustainability goals and move forward with eco-friendly business practices that continue driving your success!

4. Don’t Forget Waste Management

Forward-thinking companies are exploring innovative, on-site technologies that don’t just treat waste products like water, but also enhance efficiency, promote reuse, and support the effectiveness of existing infrastructure.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO START BIG—YOU JUST HAVE TO START (OR RESTART IF YOUR SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVES HAVE BEEN PUT ASIDE)

Key Factors You Should Consider

When looking at solutions, take time to consider what works best for your business. However, there are a few critical factors that apply to most craft breweries.

Compact
Space equals money. Typically, you want a solution that has a small footprint, easily fitting into existing buildings without the need for massive settling ponds or storage tanks. A smaller footprint means minimal disruption to space and workflow.

Affordable

Large-scale sustainability solutions often come with large-scale budgets. Luckily, technology innovations have led to waste treatment solutions that cost in the thousands, not millions. Today, there are a variety of accessible, flexible, and affordable options.

Scalable

Make sure you choose a solution that will grow with you. Scalable systems provide environmentally friendly operations that expand as your business does. Scalability also ensures that the local infrastructure won’t be overwhelmed as you increase volume.

Even with a tighter market, now is not the time to eliminate your sustainability efforts. Instead, lean into affordable eco-friendly business practices that will help you grow success, attract consumers, support your community, and protect our planet.

Check out how our wastewater solutions can help you, whether you’re addressing wastewater for the first time or need to update your existing solution with a larger, more efficient, or more effective system.