Alcohol and the Environment
Luis Ayala, Editor of "Got Rum?" magazine, Rum Consultant and Founder of The Rum University
In today’s world of environmental impact awareness, we frequently have to answer the question of how the distilled spirits industry in general, and rum in particular, affect the environment. Too much happens during the growing of grains, roots and plants, and during their harvesting, to do justice to the subject in these brief lines, but perhaps in future editorials we will explore this area. The question we are hearing more often these days refers specifically to the impact distilleries have, not so much the impact from the industries supplying them. So let’s take a moment to explore this wonderful world.
Alcohol production requires a lot of water and a lot of energy (mainly to convert the water into steam). These two are perhaps the biggest potential areas of environmental impact during distillation. Distilleries should have (and most do have) systems that capture the spent steam and other forms of processed water, so it can be re-utilized. In some cases, water plants at the distilleries can render the water potable again and feed that into the water grid for the adjacent communities.
Aging, if involved, requires a lot of barrels. In the case of Whiskey and Bourbon, the aging must be done exclusively in new oak barrels, which means that every time a barrel is emptied, it must be replaced with a new one (rum is almost always aged in these used barrels). This has an impact, as the new barrels can only come from trees. In most countries where barrels are produced, the re-planting of trees is closely regulated and enforced, to insure sustainability.
Distribution and retailing involve glass or plastic bottles, plus paper products (labels and cardboard boxes). These also represent areas of environmental impact and each country enforces recycling in different ways.
On-premise establishments, for the most part, are good about separating their recyclable components from the rest of the waste they produce, but at-home consumption still represents a large volume of spirits consumed around the world. Some consumers believe it is the trash/waste company’s responsibility to separate recyclable from non-recyclable products and, in some cases, it should be. Other consumers voluntarily separate these themselves.
As consumers, we determine how much we want to demand from our governments and from the businesses around us, but we should also determine how much we want to demand from ourselves, if we want to minimize our impact on the environment.
Cheers,
Luis Ayala, Editor and Publisher