Managing Director/CEO Nigeria Breweries Plc (NBL), Mr. Nicholaas A. Vervelde has said the firm saved N2.5billion from energy efficiency, adding that the company has recorded annual energy efficiency increase through production volumes increase yearly since its application in 2009.
He said plans are on top gear to switch from diesel to gas.
“We have extended the number of breweries that are natural gas from three to four. Others will switch in future. These will significantly reduce our carbon footprint and operating cost,” he said.
Vervelde stated this in a document titled: “Sustainability report” made available to our reporter.
He said the firm’s subsidiary, Aba Brewery, achieved 49 per cent reduction in thermal energy consumption representing nearly 80 million standard cubic feet of gas not burned to release Co2 into the atmosphere thereby saving on estimated electricity consumption by nearly 600 averaged sized homes.
In addition, he said the amount of carbon would have required more than 110,000 trees grown for 10 years, noting it remains the best thermal energy consumption results in the entire Heineken world.
On water reduction, he disclosed that NBL also achieved 32 per cent reduction through minimising leakages, reducing waste, reusing treated wastewater for gardening, good housekeeping and in toilets.
He maintained that his company will continue to drive efforts to reduce specific water consumption in the production of their brands to encourage sustainability.
“We inaugurated an ultra- modern automatic wastewater treatment plant in Aba brewery. It is automated with high profile spray tower for removing Co2 and volatile gases. The new plant has helped to improve our handling of wastewater and enhance water consumption records as well as our environmental performance,” he said.
Furthermore, he stated that in its commitment to sustained local sourcing of raw materials, NBL signed a partnership agreement with Psaltry International Company Limited, a Nigerian cassava processing company, and 2SCALE a Dutch Consortium, to improve cassava output. The outcome of this partnership is to optimise the cassava value chain in Nigeria and improve the business of smallholder farmers of the crop, he said.
He said the partnership agreed to support small-scale farmers with technical assistance, training and easier access to finance to produce more and better cassava.
According to him, these will empower smallholder farmers to participate in the market for processed cassava by products for industrial base. This in his opinion will in addition sustain the activities of ancillary industries that supply cans, bottles, plastic crates, labels and other materials used in our production processes. Besides provision of direct employment opportunities, we support many other indirect jobs across the value chain, he added.
Highlighting the companies’ economic impact to the economy he explained that the company supported 50,000 jobs in the sorghum industry and a total of 279,000 jobs in other sectors with a total value addition of N292 billion including government revenue of N28billion.
On quality assurance, he said NBL succeeded in influencing supplier behavior by conducting a risk assessment on suppliers to evaluate the compliance of their business practices with NBL values. The code covers issues of acceptable environmental management and respect for human rights among others he added.
Finally he said their company policy target for 2020 is to build measurable partnerships, 50 per cent of our main raw materials to be supplied from sustainable sources, 60per cent of agricultural raw materials in Africa to be locally sourced within the continent.
