An Eleven-Hour Shower? The Scale of Beer Dispense Waste and What We Can Do About It
A mission of ours at BeerTrim is to provide science-based solutions to reduce environmental waste. When we discovered that BeerTrim reduced beer dispense waste, an aim of our’s was to try and understand both the beer and water waste saving implications to the on-trade beer market.
We wanted to find out the volume of beer dispense waste in a recent year, and how this figure can be presented to the public and people working in the industry so they can comprehend the unnecessary beer and water waste that occurs at the point of dispense.
Our research started with Brewers of Europe, a not-for-profit European association based in Brussels. They state that in 2019 the UK consumed 47,119 1,000 HL of beer (4,711,900,000 litres) . From this figure, a 45% proportion was consumed on-trade, which works out to be 21,204 1,000 HL of beer (2,120,355,000 litres).
Data research group Vianet found that the on-trade UK beer industry wastes £87.2 million per year as a consequence of pour loss due to overpouring and fobbing. Throughout BeerTrim’s R&D, the modest consensus with publicans and beer research centres regarding this beer dispense waste with every pint poured is between 5 and 7%. Taking 5% into consideration, 1060 1,000 HL (106,000,000 litres) of beer is wasted as a result of inefficient dispense.
"Data research group Vianet found that the on-trade UK beer industry wastes £87.2 million per year as a consequence of pour loss due to overpouring and fobbing."
To make significant waste savings and increase efficiency at your venue, order a BeerTrim Fast-Flow Nozzle today from our Amazon Store.
The beer supply chain is well known for being resource exhaustive and we wanted to find a mean ratio for the amount of water that is used in only the brewing production process. The easiest accessible data was provided by the multinational brewers and, once we knew who brewed each of the best-selling twelve beers in 2020 in the UK, their respective sustainable white papers enabled us to calculate a mean beer:water ratio of 1:3.
Subsequently, we can multiply the total beer dispense waste value by three to get the equivalent water waste as a result of inefficient beer dispense. This value is 3181 1,000 HL (318,053,250 litres). To better comprehend this volume, it works out to be just over 10L of fresh water waste every second, of every day, 365 days a year.
Simple maths was used to work out this figure, however, we wanted to find an even simpler way to present this huge number to the public, and people working in the industry. This infographic needed to revolve around an activity common in our everyday lives, one which provided an effective context to the scale of the beer dispense waste and its associated water waste. Having a shower is simple and effective metric, with the population spending on average eight minutes in the shower, using 60L of water.
"This value is 3181 1,000 HL (318,053,250 litres). To better comprehend this volume, it works out to be just over 10L of fresh water waste every second, of every day, 365 days a year."
We wanted to approach our infographic by using time to measure the volume of beer dispense waste and associated water waste. An eight minute shower equates to 60 L of water being used. However, by taking the previously mentioned figure of 10L of water being wasted per second and then multiplying it with the number of seconds in an eight minute shower, 4841 litres of water has been wasted within the same time frame.
Since our average shower uses 7.5 litres of water per minute, it would take us nearly 11 hours of constant showering to use up this volume of water. Simply divide this by three and you have time that it would take in the shower to reach the volume of beer wasted, three and a half hours.
In this light, 5% beer dispense waste with every pour can no longer be considered a nominal figure. Not only does it represent a huge profit potential for the venue, but it can drastically reduce the size of its carbon footprint. BeerTrim is a beer dispensing nozzle that will help venues succeed on both counts, only for an initial upfront cost of £225.
Sources:
“European Beer Trends 2019.” Brewers of Europe, December 5, 2019. https://brewersofeurope.org/uploads/mycms-files/documents/publications/2019/european-beer-trends-2019-web.pdf.
“Vianet Beer Insight Review 2019/20.” Vianet Group, November 7, 2019. https://vianetplc.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/BeerInsight2020.pdf.
"Annual Report 2019.” ABInBev, February 20, 2020.
“Sustainability.” Heineken UK. Accessed October 27, 2021. https://www.heineken.co.uk/sustainability/.
“Zero Water Waste.” Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company. Accessed October 27, 2021. https://www.carlsbergmarstons.co.uk/sustainability/our-ambitions/zero-water-waste/.
“Environmental, Social and Governance Report 2019.” Tsingtao, 2020. http://www.tsingtao.com.cn/TsingTao/upload/Attachment/20201210/2019%E9%9D%92%E5%B2%9B%E5%95%A4%E9%85%92%E7%8E%AF%E5%A2%83%E3%80%81%E7%A4%BE%E4%BC%9A%E5%8F%8A%E7%AE%A1%E6%B2%BB%E6%8A%A5%E5%91%8A%EF%BC%88%E8%8B%B1%E6%96%87%E7%89%88%EF%BC%89.pdf.
“2.75 Litres of Water per Litre of Beer Brewed by 2025.” Asahi International. Accessed October 27, 2021. https://www.asahiinternational.com/sustainability/planet/275-litres-of-water-per-litre-of-beer-brewed-by-2025/.
An Eleven-Hour Shower? The Scale of Beer Dispense Waste and What We Can Do About It
A mission of ours at BeerTrim is to provide science-based solutions to reduce environmental waste. When we discovered that BeerTrim reduced beer dispense waste, an aim of our’s was to try and understand both the beer and water waste saving implications to the on-trade beer market.
We wanted to find out the volume of beer dispense waste in a recent year, and how this figure can be presented to the public and people working in the industry so they can comprehend the unnecessary beer and water waste that occurs at the point of dispense.
Our research started with Brewers of Europe, a not-for-profit European association based in Brussels. They state that in 2019 the UK consumed 47,119 1,000 HL of beer (4,711,900,000 litres) . From this figure, a 45% proportion was consumed on-trade, which works out to be 21,204 1,000 HL of beer (2,120,355,000 litres).
Data research group Vianet found that the on-trade UK beer industry wastes £87.2 million per year as a consequence of pour loss due to overpouring and fobbing. Throughout BeerTrim’s R&D, the modest consensus with publicans and beer research centres regarding this beer dispense waste with every pint poured is between 5 and 7%. Taking 5% into consideration, 1060 1,000 HL (106,000,000 litres) of beer is wasted as a result of inefficient dispense.
"Data research group Vianet found that the on-trade UK beer industry wastes £87.2 million per year as a consequence of pour loss due to overpouring and fobbing."
To make significant waste savings and increase efficiency at your venue, order a BeerTrim Fast-Flow Nozzle today from our Amazon Store.
The beer supply chain is well known for being resource exhaustive and we wanted to find a mean ratio for the amount of water that is used in only the brewing production process. The easiest accessible data was provided by the multinational brewers and, once we knew who brewed each of the best-selling twelve beers in 2020 in the UK, their respective sustainable white papers enabled us to calculate a mean beer:water ratio of 1:3.
Subsequently, we can multiply the total beer dispense waste value by three to get the equivalent water waste as a result of inefficient beer dispense. This value is 3181 1,000 HL (318,053,250 litres). To better comprehend this volume, it works out to be just over 10L of fresh water waste every second, of every day, 365 days a year.
Simple maths was used to work out this figure, however, we wanted to find an even simpler way to present this huge number to the public, and people working in the industry. This infographic needed to revolve around an activity common in our everyday lives, one which provided an effective context to the scale of the beer dispense waste and its associated water waste. Having a shower is simple and effective metric, with the population spending on average eight minutes in the shower, using 60L of water.
"This value is 3181 1,000 HL (318,053,250 litres). To better comprehend this volume, it works out to be just over 10L of fresh water waste every second, of every day, 365 days a year."
We wanted to approach our infographic by using time to measure the volume of beer dispense waste and associated water waste. An eight minute shower equates to 60 L of water being used. However, by taking the previously mentioned figure of 10L of water being wasted per second and then multiplying it with the number of seconds in an eight minute shower, 4841 litres of water has been wasted within the same time frame.
Since our average shower uses 7.5 litres of water per minute, it would take us nearly 11 hours of constant showering to use up this volume of water. Simply divide this by three and you have time that it would take in the shower to reach the volume of beer wasted, three and a half hours.
In this light, 5% beer dispense waste with every pour can no longer be considered a nominal figure. Not only does it represent a huge profit potential for the venue, but it can drastically reduce the size of its carbon footprint. BeerTrim is a beer dispensing nozzle that will help venues succeed on both counts, only for an initial upfront cost of £225.
Sources:
“European Beer Trends 2019.” Brewers of Europe, December 5, 2019. https://brewersofeurope.org/uploads/mycms-files/documents/publications/2019/european-beer-trends-2019-web.pdf.
“Vianet Beer Insight Review 2019/20.” Vianet Group, November 7, 2019. https://vianetplc.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/BeerInsight2020.pdf.
"Annual Report 2019.” ABInBev, February 20, 2020.
“Sustainability.” Heineken UK. Accessed October 27, 2021. https://www.heineken.co.uk/sustainability/.
“Zero Water Waste.” Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company. Accessed October 27, 2021. https://www.carlsbergmarstons.co.uk/sustainability/our-ambitions/zero-water-waste/.
“Environmental, Social and Governance Report 2019.” Tsingtao, 2020. http://www.tsingtao.com.cn/TsingTao/upload/Attachment/20201210/2019%E9%9D%92%E5%B2%9B%E5%95%A4%E9%85%92%E7%8E%AF%E5%A2%83%E3%80%81%E7%A4%BE%E4%BC%9A%E5%8F%8A%E7%AE%A1%E6%B2%BB%E6%8A%A5%E5%91%8A%EF%BC%88%E8%8B%B1%E6%96%87%E7%89%88%EF%BC%89.pdf.
“2.75 Litres of Water per Litre of Beer Brewed by 2025.” Asahi International. Accessed October 27, 2021. https://www.asahiinternational.com/sustainability/planet/275-litres-of-water-per-litre-of-beer-brewed-by-2025/.