St Austell Brewery | Our Responsibility

We already go to great lengths to be environmentally efficient but we've taken the decision to go even further, reducing as much as possible our carbon use in every area of the business.

We're proud to be doing our part in protecting the unique and beautiful environment of this part of the world and we hope others will join us in making this extra effort.

Brewing cask ales has always been one of the most environmentally friendly processes; it uses simple natural ingredients of water, barley, hops and yeast and any waste material is re-used to feed local cattle and to help grow plants. Now see the list below for an outline of what else St Austell Brewery is doing in our commitment to become one of the UK's greenest brewers.

HOW WE REDUCE OUR CARBON FOOTPRINT AND CONTINUE AS A MORE SUSTAINABLE COMPANY

Read our Environmental Policy Statement.

Carbon Reporting – we record, measure and monitor all of our energy usage, this information is then available to all Staff. We continue to achieve real carbon reductions and are committed to on-going reductions in energy usage through engineering and efficient kit for example Voltage Optimisation (VO).

Cornwall Sustainability Awards – St Austell Brewery continues to support the annual awards. In 2013, Stephanie Lorton from the County Arms in Truro won the Best Individual Champion category. The aim of Cornwall Sustainability Awards is to encourage, reward and gain recognition for some of the excellent work businesses are doing to improve their sustainability.

Hospitality Carbon Reduction Forum – we have joined this forum to share knowledge, ideas & learn from other companies in our sector.

Renewable Energy – Photovoltaic (PV) systems (generating electricity from Solar energy) – we have successfully installed systems at our Head Office, Cornwall Distribution Centre & the County Arms in Truro. We also have Solar Thermal units and Rainwater Harvesting installed at the County Arms. We are currently investigating other sites within our Estate which may be suitable for Renewable Technologies including Solar PV, Solar Thermal & Air Source Heat Pumps.

Recycling / Waste Segregation – St Austell Brewery’s Head Office, Distribution Depots and our Managed Houses are working very hard to divert as much waste away from Landfill. We now have all Managed Houses diverting their food waste from landfill. We work hard with the support of our Waste Contractors and the commitment of our Staff to segregate most waste streams and even manage to make money out of some of our waste!

Waste & Resources Action Programme - St Austell Brewery has signed up to the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) - Hospitality & Food Service Agreement section.

Exeter University – Renewables Student – Summer Placement – we work closely with the University (Cambourne School of Mines) and in 2013 we hired a 4^th Year Student to work with our Compliance Officer during the summer holidays investigating further energy reduction technologies. This was a successful placement and we signed another Student to continue this work into the 2014 summer holidays and will continue to develop these links across the coming years.

Lighting – where possible we are installing energy efficient lighting (including LED) schemes across our Managed House Estate Pubs.

Our aim is to integrate our environment policy into all of our business activities and conduct our operations to the latest standards and codes of practice so we do not just meet but exceed all appropriate legislative requirements.

Cornwall Together – We are one of the founder supporters of this scheme – please look at www.cornwalltogether.com for more info and join in!

As a company that is already environmentally conscious, we are setting tough targets to cut our carbon footprint further but we believe it is important to challenge the way we operate in all our business streams. We continue to monitor our performance and identify areas for improvement.

WE SUPPORT PUB IS THE HUB

The pub should be the centre or hub of community life and can also provide essential services beyond the usual drinks, food or entertainment. We are very proud to support Pub is The Hub, an organisation of specialist voluntary advisors for rural pubs and licensees who are thinking of broadening their range of services. You can find out more about the organisation here: www.pubisthehub.org.uk

In partnership with Pub is The Hub we have encouraged some of our own great licensees to work with communities and provide additional services such as the community libraries at The Old Inn at Mullion and The Crown Inn, Goldsithney near Penzance. Our team have also been closely involved in supporting the South West region for Pub is The Hub for over a decade.