The brewery
Commitments taken today for a better future
We have always attached great importance to the quality of our products, but also to the well-being of our employees and consumers.
These concerns are essential to us and are reflected in the overall strategy of our family business. Through this strategy, we advocate diversity and reasoned consumption patterns.
“We have been strongly committed for many years and we work every day to offer quality beers while keeping in mind our social and environmental impacts on the long term.”
Céline Lefebvre
Reducing our environmental impact
WATER
Water is a precious resource that determines the quality of our beers. It is also used in each step of the brewing process and is one of our brewery’s essential raw materials.
With a view to reducing, adding value and allocating this exhaustible resource as efficiently as possible, a number of measures have been set up.
A wastewater treatment plant was built in 2015. In 2021, we created a task force within the brewery with the aim of significantly reducing our water consumption and raising awareness regarding the issue among all staff. Thanks to the various actions taken, we have been able to reduce water consumption by 15% in 2022 compared with the previous year. In 2024, the goal remains the same: to reduce our water consumption by a further 15% compared to 2023.
ENERGY
The installation of more than 500 photovoltaic panels on our roofs in 2022 has enabled us to source 15% of our electricity consumption.
An internal task force has also been set up to study, promote and raise awareness among as many people as possible about the efficient distribution of our electricity and gas resources.
Our main goals consist in reducing even more our CO2 emissions, continuing to extend the proportion of renewable energy used in our production and increasing our energy efficiency.
WASTE
The waste from a brewery mainly comes from the brewing stage. The organic waste – known as spent grain or draff – from raw materials such as barley, wheat, yeast and hop is recycled into nourishment for livestock in neighbouring farms.
By acquiring our own returnable empties system, we are promoting 100% reusable packaging. Our bottles are 100% recyclable and reusable. Our secondary packaging, such as cardboard boxes and plastic cases, is also recyclable and reusable.
We also set up a task force dedicated to waste recycling and good practice. In addition the brewery is working on eliminating plastic use in its various packaging (gift sets, bundles, etc).
The good waste is a waste that doesn’t exist at all. Every step of production is rigorously controlled to avoid losses due to non-quality. Along the same lines, a working group strives to minimise our energy footprint.
MOBILITY
Sustainable transport is at the heart of our concerns. By encouraging remote working when possible and studying alternatives to combustion engines for our employees’ journeys to our brewery, we hope to bring about a change in the way everyone thinks about means of transport.
In 2024, we aim to reduce transfers between our two storage sites by centralising all our activities on a single site in Quenast.
The working group set up to achieve this is aware of the infrastructure developments needed to introduce different types of mobility (electric charging points, bicycle rack, etc.).
Control of our supply chains and local partnerships
With all our partners, we do everything possible to ensure the quality of our products. By being mutually transparent, we work with them to make the most of the raw materials we use.
Towards sustainable agriculture and short supply chains…
We attach great importance to the origin of our raw materials. Following the development of our UNPLUGGED range of beers, which marks the arrival of the sixth generation at the head of the brewery, we decided to rethink our supply of provisions.
“New ideas were opening up. We wanted to continue the process of relocating our raw materials. That is why we started with barley, coriander seeds and then honey”.
Paul Lefebvre
Today, we get some of our supplies from farmers belonging to the Cultivae cooperative.
Cultivae is a cooperative of farmers producing on the basis of the regenerative culture pattern. This type of farming preserves the soil, reduces crop treatment to a minimum and captures up to 2 tons of carbon per cultivated hectare. Before this 100% Belgian partnership, our barley was grown in Belgium or in the north of France . As for the wheat, it has always been grown locally.
Honey and coriander seeds are also examples of relocation for our brewery. The coriander seeds, which we now buy from another Cultivae cooperative farmer, are the fruit of the pollination of the coriander flower by Beelgium bees. The same bees that produce some of the honey contained in one of our flagship beers: the Barbãr.
“It’s an example of circularity that we want to carry on and extend to as many of our raw materials as possible”.
Paul Lefebvre
All these actions are the fruit of our continuouseffort over the years.
Being at the heart of your finest celebrations
Our brewery is also proud to be a partner for local associations, sport clubs and cultural events! We support various local events such as concerts and fairs throughout the year. We also partner with a number of sports clubs in the region and support cultural events such as art openings and exhibitions.
We can say that the sustainability challenge that the brewery faces concerns the various aspects of social and environmental responsibility that no company today can ignore. We are implementing an environmental policy based on loss prevention, quantifying our carbon footprint, eco-design, circularity and the production/consumption of green energy. We advocate transparency for internal interactions, the monitoring of our collaborators and the promotion of training related to our job.
Once again, these challenges allow us to question ourselves and constantly stimulate our way of acting in a constantly changing world. This transition is possible thanks to the mobilisation of all those involved in and around our family brewery. Farmers, beekeepers, employees, partners and consumers have always been a source of value and a motivation for our brewing expertise to progress.
