Bacardi aims for zero waste to landfill by 2022

The world’s largest privately-held spirits company Bacardi has unveiled a new environmental initiative called Good Spirited: Building a Sustainable Future.

The campaign details specific goals in sourcing, packaging and operations to be achieved by 2022. In raw materials, the Bombay Sapphire maker has committed to obtain 40% of its sugarcane-derived products from certified, sustainable sources by 2017, rising to 100% by 2022.

In the field of packaging the company plans to reduce the weight of its packaging by 10% by 2017 and achieve 15% by 2022.

Bacardi will continue to focus on reducing water use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions too with a 2017 goal to cut water use by 55% and GHG emissions by 50%. In addition, the company aims to eliminate landfill waste at all of its production sites by 2022. Recently, at the world’s largest premium rum distillery in Puerto Rico, demolition crews recycled more than 150 truckloads of concrete without sending any debris to landfills. The concrete was reused in the construction of new blending facilities.

“Protecting the natural resources we use to create our brands, at every step along the value chain, is central to our corporate responsibility,” said Ed Shirley, president and ceo. “We’ve always set the bar high. Now, we’re taking our solid, sustainable foundation to the next level.”
 

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Since Bacardi began tracking its global impacts on the environment in 2006, it has reduced energy use by more than 25% and water use by 54%. Some sustainable projects to date include repurposing water used to clean barrels.