Recently, owning your own line of beverages seems to be the new trend. From George Clooney’s Casamigos Tequila to YouTuber Emma Chamberlain’s Chamberlain Coffee, you have probably heard (or seen) celebrities advertising their own coffee business, or liquor, or spirits, and so on. You can’t blame them, we’re all suckers for a good beverage, and sometimes, all you need is a whiff of coffee to start the day.
However, have we stopped to think about the effects of the beverage industry on the planet? And is it possible to make it sustainable? Let’s explore the facts and possible alternatives.
There’s no denying it; everyone loves a good drink. From the variety of options to bringing people together, it’s sometimes less about the beverage itself but rather the act of going to get it. Want to grab a quick coffee? How about some drinks after work? Or bottomless mimosas for brunch on Saturday? Grabbing drinks is a social activity that can even open up avenues for us. It’s like going golfing, but for regular people.
Cafés have become the de facto gathering and talking spots of today, and it seems that a thriving café area is a necessary component of any busy shopping centre or marketplace.
How did we get here? The Starbucks Case Study
While many would argue that it’s simply the sense of ease and contentment that cafes, bars, or even some restaurants bring, it actually owes a lot to effective marketing.
Starbucks popularised the concept of the ‘Third Place’, which essentially means that it is the bridge between our home (first place) and our work or school (second place). The concept was created by sociologist Ray Oldenburg to describe locations frequented by people between their homes and work. They’re places where people meet, socialise, and form bonds with one another. This strategy, coupled with their efficiency and relaxed atmosphere, makes it easy to understand how Starbucks was able to craft an inviting and trustworthy image for themselves.
This marketing strategy has also expanded outside of their stores to include their products. Starbucks products now give consumers the sensation of being at one of their stores without actually being there. Their bottled Frappuccino beverages, which are sold at supermarkets or convenience stores, are not significantly cheaper, but sales are nevertheless impressive, despite the fact that buyers are aware that they will not taste the same as the blended marvel.
With this tiny case study in mind, and how more and more of us are thinking about the effects of our daily activities on the environment, such as the meals we eat, the modes of transportation we choose, and the clothing we wear, we realise that quite often, we overlook or simply forget the impact of the beverages we consume.
Whether we choose to ignore it or it’s simply not as widely talked about for reasons yet unknown, there is an environmental impact at every level of manufacturing. From the first stages of production (producing the raw materials) to the last stages (packing and shipping the final product), a lot of steps must be taken, resulting in a lot of overall environmental impact.
Alcohol production is quite a wasteful one
The most significant environmental impact of the wine and beer industry is the production of beverage containers, according to Alko. Wine and beer packaging are responsible for almost half of all environmental impacts. The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that half of all municipal solid waste consists of food and food packaging, with approximately 39 million tonnes of material used annually for packaging. Glass bottle manufacturing is the single largest contributor since it needs a very high temperature of roughly 1,400–1,600 C, which in turn takes a lot of energy to produce.
Distilled spirits produce more waste water and use more energy per unit of output than any other alcohol. During the process itself, according to an article by Blueland, the microorganism balance in the area is severely disturbed by the runoff water from rum distillation, which contains molasses and cane juice.
In the same way, the vinazas, which are a highly acidic pulp, produced by wasting water in the tequila production process, are extremely harmful to the land and groundwater in the Jalisco area of Mexico.
While wine’s production has a lower environmental impact than that of spirits, that doesn’t make it harmless. A 2012 study published in The Journal of Cleaner Production found that vineyards use substantial quantities of energy during harvest, significantly impact world glass production, and leave chromium copper arsenate in the soil.
Energy and fuel expenditure during grape growing cause the second-greatest environmental impact of wine manufacturing. It comes down to the fuel used by tractors and other vineyard equipment, which determines the extent to which the environment is affected. Even then, massive energy is still needed for lighting, chilling wine transfer pumps and production tanks, frost protection, wastewater treatment, pumping irrigation water, and heating or cooling production facilities.
For tequila, water is essential. It takes around 15 litres of water to make 1 litre of tequila. A single eight-ounce serving of beer requires roughly 20 gallons of water, whereas a single five-ounce cup of wine requires about 30 gallons.
In addition, several alcoholic beverages are produced in just one or a few locations, which quite obviously has a lot of environmental impact.
Coffee and the climate are not necessarily besties too
In terms of global trade volume, coffee is second only to oil. In that sense, it’s beyond important to remember that the environmental and ecological challenges caused by the $10 billion coffee industry are not only real but incredibly serious.
An article by Jodi Lee states that the deforestation caused by your daily trip to Starbucks is one of the leading causes of rainforest destruction, where every cup of coffee consumed destroys roughly a square inch of rainforest. According to the International Coffee Organization, coffee production has increased by 60% over the last 30 years to meet rising consumer demand.
This has put coffee producers under intense pressure to increase bean production to meet global demand. To achieve this, commercial coffee plantations frequently engage in widespread deforestation, eradicating any and all organisms that once lived in those areas. The Amazon rainforest in Brazil, the world’s biggest coffee producer, witnessed its first annual increase in deforestation in 15 years. Between August 2020 and July 2021, they lost over 13,235 square kilometres of land, which is the same as losing 2,429 football fields.
Furthermore, coffee is one of the three crops that get the most pesticides worldwide, and its processing is a significant source of water pollution, which is a huge downside considering 125 millimetres of coffee require 140 litres of water in the growing and roasting processes.
Bambi Semroc, senior vice president of the Center for Sustainable Lands and Waters at Conservation International, shared with CNBC that “most coffee goes through a wet-milling process that uses significant amounts of freshwater to de-pulp and wash the coffee.” Then the coffee is dried, roasted, shipped, and brewed—each of which uses energy.
Is there anything we can do?
Pledging carbon-neutrality
Diageo, one of the world’s major multinational beer and spirit companies, has committed to eliminating all of its greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2030. According to Kirstie McIntyre, Diageo’s Global Sustainability Director, the corporation is pursuing sustainability from a number of angles. One approach would be to increase productivity by means such as modernising machinery, enhancing thermal insulation, and working at a faster pace. The firm recovers the thermal energy it uses during the manufacturing process and puts it to good use again. Diageo also uses renewable energy sources, such as biomass generators that run on waste from brewing and distilling, as well as waste from growing hops, barley, and other ingredients.
Lab-grown coffee
For the coffee industry, businesses and researchers are working on perfecting and eventually commercialising an alternative to using coffee beans to make coffee. In other words, lab-grown coffee.
Atomo Coffee, located in Seattle, Washington, offered its $5.99-a-can “molecular coffee” to the public for a single day through an online pop-up store. The business, which has raised $11.5 million, creates its coffee by turning molecules from plant waste into the same components found in green coffee. Date seed extracts, chicory root, grape skin, and caffeine are roasted, powdered, and brewed to create this coffee. According to Atomo, compared to traditional coffee cultivation, this technology produces 93% less carbon emissions, 94% less water consumption, and zero deforestation.
On the other side of the lab-grown coffee coin, lab-grown coffee developed by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland anticipates that their product will receive regulatory approval in Europe and the United States within the next four years. If this works, it could lead to the sale of a product that could have a lot less of an effect on the environment than regular coffee.
However, for now, the coffee is not yet approved for public consumption.
Easier, lighter transportation of beer
The carbon footprint of beer is around 20% higher than the impact of wine because of global transportation. To avoid spoilage during transport, alcoholic beverages, including beer, wine, and spirits, are often transported in refrigerated trucks.
BrewVo is a method created by Patrick Tatera that results in beer that is so concentrated that it only requires one-sixth the weight and volume of regular beer to transport. In many ways, the BrewVo method is similar to classic brewing, with the key difference being that the beer passes through the procedure numerous times. Following each brewing cycle, the liquid byproduct is transferred to a BrewVo machine, which extracts the alcohol while filtering away the water.
These processes seem to be more time-consuming and are intended for large, well-resourced organisations.
The everyday solutions
On the other hand, for folks like us, the simplest solution would be to go out and socialise at a bar or pub. This move away from purchasing beverages in casks or kegs and toward purchasing beer in bottles is one of the more recent trends in beer consumption. The carbon footprint of beer is significantly inflated due to the emissions produced by various modes of transportation. This is in line with the rising amount of booze-related beverages consumed in private settings.
Another obvious, idiot-proof way to drink beer alone anywhere is to not drive when going out to buy beer. As a result, you’ll be limited in how much beer you can buy and more likely to choose canned varieties than those in glass bottles. Just make sure you still remember to recycle your cans.
Lastly, if you’re able to, always choose refillable options when purchasing beverages, and help save the planet by ordering beverages from eco-friendly companies at your favourite watering hole, cafes, restaurants, or supermarkets.
FEATURED IMAGE via PEXELS | IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Pile of Beverage Crates