The environmental impact of beer

Do you buy your beer in a bottle or a can? Do you know which country it comes from? Do you realise the impact your decision could have on the environment?

Consultancy firm Edge Environment is looking to introduce consumers to lifecycle thinking, asking them to question the environmental implications of their choices, as well as to encourage brands to reduce the impacts of their activities. The company released a video recently that uses the example of a consumer who faces the choice of purchasing bottled beer from Germany or canned beer from Australia, presenting the issue in a manner people can relate to.

“We chose beer because of its potential as a conversation starter; we want to get people asking questions about where their products and services come from,” said Tom Davies, a director at Edge Environment. “The next step is to produce further videos about the not-so-obvious questions around products and services and about what companies are doing to address them.

“There are many organisations, amongst them our clients, doing thorough, ambitious and often groundbreaking work to rethink production and how things can be made better,” added Jonas Bengtsson, another of the company’s directors. “This kind of work often stays ‘undercover’ because it is quite technical and, possibly, due to a gap in communications between the marketing and environmental departments in some organisations.

“We are in a position to reach across this gap, going beyond the technical to help companies tell good news stories to their markets, clients and staff, inspiring and educating the whole supply chain to make changes for the better.”

The new video has been partially funded by the federal government’s Enterprise Connect Scheme. It can be viewed here.