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啤酒和环保有什么关系?

啤酒和环保有什么关系?

David Whitford 2011-06-09
金•马洛塔是米勒康胜公司企业社会责任部的负责人,她将在本文中谈谈该公司在鼓励负责任的饮酒方面的做法,并解释酿造啤酒为何需要大量用水。

    金•马洛塔(Kim Marotta)是啤酒酿造巨头米勒康胜公司(MillerCoors)企业社会责任部的负责人。米勒康胜是南非米勒酿酒公司(SABMillier)和康胜啤酒酿造公司(Molson Coors Brewing Company)的合资企业。与其他大型啤酒厂商的同行一样,她需要操心的问题包括碳排放、产品包装、水的利用和企业道德等。不过,她的工作还有另一个方面,是饮料企业所独有的问题,也是高中毕业舞会高峰期家长们非常关心的问题,即“酒精责任”问题。

    所谓“酒精责任”是不是就是让顾客喜欢你的产品,但不要饮酒过量,不要未成年饮酒?

    “酒精责任”是要鼓励人们负责任地饮酒。我们的首要目标是防止酒后驾车,以及协助切断未成年人酒精来源。第三个方面是处理大学校园的相关问题。第四个方面是自律,确保我们的广告只针对成年人。我们的目标是确保我们广告受众的70%都是达到法定饮酒年龄的成年人。事实上,我们在进行营销渠道采购和广告投放之前,就已经拿到了尼尔森公司的调查数据;在营销活动结束之后,我们还会进行后续审计。

    这样你们就可以做与体育赛事有关的广告了?

    到现场或在电视上观看这些体育赛事的主要是成年人。比如ESPN或CBS上收看NCAA比赛的观众,成年人的比例远远超出了70%对30%的标准。我们并没有针对青少年做营销。

    你有孩子吗?

    有的。我有四个孩子,其中一个孩子马上就要上高二了,另一个孩子马上要上高一了。所以,这个问题与我自己密切相关。

    你们家喝酒有什么规矩吗?

    绝对不能喝啤酒,也不能喝别的酒,除非你达到了法定的喝酒年龄,否则绝对不能喝酒,绝不破例。我的孩子们都很理解。很多孩子的父母都觉得同龄人对孩子的影响最大,认为同龄人会左右孩子们决定喝不喝酒、参不参与其它不不责任的行为。但多年的研究表明,父母才是对青少年影响最大的人。如果父母们设立了规矩和标准,对孩子讲明哪些行为是可以接受的,一般说来,孩子们都会做出明智的抉择。因此,父母必须了解这一点,并且承担应尽的责任。

    另外,我可以给你讲讲我朋友的故事。那时他的孩子还小。他家的院子里有一块石头,他一直在那块石头下面放着50块钱。所以他的孩子们从来不担心没法安全回家。他们可以坐出租车回家,然后拿这笔钱付车费。这就是默契。

    接下来,我们谈谈环境的可持续发展。米勒康胜公司采取了哪些措施来减少用水量?

    水是啤酒中最主要的原料之一。但它的意义不仅仅是一种原料。只要看看我们的农业供应链,就会发现水有多重要。水的使用贯穿了整个酿造过程,无论是清洗酿造锅,还是在巴氏消毒法或在真正酿造啤酒的过程中,水都不可或缺。

    酿造一桶啤酒需要多少水?

    我们的目标是到2015年,用3.5桶水酿造出1桶啤酒。现在我们酿造1桶啤酒的耗水量是4.1桶。我们的酿酒厂大多都有30年的历史了。因此我们正在进行投资、拨划资金,用于改良基础建设。

    回想一下当年看《拉弗妮与雪莉》的日子(注:《拉弗妮与雪莉》是1976年至1983年间美国ABC电视台热播的情景喜剧),你还记得当时啤酒瓶在生产线上移动的情景吗?一般来说需要借助一种水基的溶剂来帮助这些啤酒瓶移动,确保它们不至于破裂。现在,我们已经把它换成了一种非水基的润滑物质。我们的乔治亚州啤酒厂使用离子空气清洁技术,用空气来清洁啤酒瓶,而不是用水。采用了这种技术后,我们的每条生产线都能节省400万加仑的水。

    我们取得了很多重大的进步,尽管这并不是一件容易的事。不像其他投资——比如能源投资,我们在这方面的投资往往看不到切实的收益。它的收益是一种精神上的收获。

    生产一罐米勒淡啤酒的碳足迹是多少?

    (笑)。现在数据不在手上,我也不知道。

    我只想知道是否有某种啤酒的碳足迹小于其他啤酒。

    我们主要看啤酒的包装碳足迹。铝合金罐的碳足迹要小于玻璃瓶。此外,玻璃瓶上面还有一个纸质标签,而造纸同样需要使用大量的水。

    这么说,喝罐装啤酒比喝瓶装啤酒更环保,是吧?

    铝合金罐的碳足迹之所以更低,其中的一个原因是铝合金罐的可回收成分达到了68%,高于其它的饮料容器。一般说来,每喝掉一罐啤酒,然后对这个铝合金啤酒罐进行回收,那么不到60天,这个罐子中的一部分材料就会再度回到商店里。此外,用回收材料制造一个铝合金罐所消耗的能源要比使用不可回收材料少95%。因此,在碳足迹的问题上,回收的确是关键的一环。

    那么扎啤是不是最好的选择?

    从碳足迹的角度来看,扎啤当然是最环保的。大多数扎啤桶都是反复回收利用的,而且基本上用不到纸。不过如果你关注的是水足迹的话,你得想想卖扎啤的商家是如何清洗扎啤杯的。

    你们有没有什么指南来指导酒吧侍者们用更负责任的方式来清洗酒杯呢?

    目前还没有。

    译者:朴成奎

    Kim Marotta runs corporate social responsibility at giant brewer MillerCoors, a joint venture between SABMiller and Molson Coors Brewing Company (TAP). She worries about carbon impact, product packaging, water use, and corporate ethics, as would any similarly titled VP at any large manufacturer. But her job has an added dimension, unique to the beverage industry, and of particular interest to any parent of teenagers during high-school-prom season: "alcohol responsibility."

    That's where you tell your customers to enjoy your product, but not too much and not until they're old enough?

    It's encouraging people to drink responsibly. Our primary focus is on the prevention of drunk driving, and on helping to prevent youth access to alcohol. A third area is addressing college campus issues. A fourth is self-regulation: making sure that our ads are only targeting adults. We make sure that the ads are reaching 70% legal-drinking-age adults. We actually get Nielsen numbers before we do a marketing buy or placement, and we'll go back and audit it afterwards, too.

    How does that ever allow you to advertise in connection with sports?

    Well, those are predominantly adults that are coming and watching those events, in the arenas and especially on TV. If you look at events that are on ESPN or CBS -- the NCAA tournament, for example -- they're well above our 70/30 standard. We're not marketing to kids.

    Do you have kids?

    I do. I have four kids, including a teenager who is going to be a junior in high school and another one who's going to be a freshman in high school. So it's very real to me.

    What are the rules about drinking in your house?

    Absolutely no beer. No alcohol. Not until you're the legal drinking age. Absolutely not. No exceptions. And my kids understand it. A lot of people that have teenagers think that other teenagers have the most influence on their kids' decisions about whether they're going to drink or engage in irresponsible behavior. But what research has shown year after year is that it's the parents that are the number-one influence. If the parents set the rules and set the standards and make it clear to the kids about what's acceptable, generally speaking, the kids will make good decisions. You've got to understand that and take responsibility for it.

    On the other side, I'll just tell you one of the things a friend of mine did when his kids were younger. He had a rock in his yard, and he'd keep, like, 50 bucks under the rock at all times. So that his kids never felt as though they couldn't get home safely. They could pay for a cab and there were no questions asked.

    Let's talk about sustainability. What is MillerCoors doing to reduce its water consumption?

    Water is one of the most important ingredients in our beer. But it's more than just an ingredient. It's really important when we look at our agriculture supply chain, and it's used throughout our brewing process, whether it's to clean our brewing kettles, or in pasteurization, or to actually make the beer.

    How much water goes into a barrel of beer?

    Our 2015 goal is to use 3.5 barrels of water to produce one barrel of beer. Right now we're at 4.1 Most of our breweries are 30 years old. So we're making investments and putting aside money for infrastructure improvements.

    If you go back to Laverne and Shirley days, remember how you'd see the beer bottles moving along the line? That was typically with a water-based solvent to help those bottles move so they didn't break or chip. We've changed the lubricant to a slippery substance that's not water-based. In our Georgia brewery, we use ionic air rinsing -- which is just air instead of water -- to clean our bottles. And just by doing that, we'll save four million gallons per line.

    Lots of great advancements, but it's not an easy thing to do. Often we don't see that return on investment that we'd see with other capital investments, like energy. It's got to come from your heart.

    What's the carbon footprint of a can of Miller Light?

    [Laughs]. You know, I don't know the number offhand.

    I just want to know if there are certain beers I can drink that have a smaller carbon footprint than others.

    We look at it from packaging footprint. An aluminum can has a smaller carbon footprint than the glass bottle. Also, the bottle has a paper label on it, and paper has a lot of water content in it.

    So I'm being more environmentally responsible if I drink my beer from a can than if I drink it from a bottle?

    Part of the reason the carbon footprint for an aluminum can is lower is that the aluminum can has more recycled content than any other beverage container. It's approximately 68%. Generally speaking, every time you drink a can of beer and you recycle it, some part of that can will be back up in a shop within the next 60 days. The other part that's interesting is that if you make a can out of recycled content, it requires 95% less energy. So in the carbon-footprint equation, recycling is really a key component.

    I suppose beer on draft is best of all?

    Certainly from a carbon footprint standpoint. Most of the kegs are recycled over and over and over again. And there's generally no paper. But then if you're looking at the water footprint, you want to know how that establishment is washing glasses.

    Do you offer any guidance to bartenders about responsible glass-washing?

    Not yet.

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