Solenis Recognizes Diageo for Program Leading to Significant Reduction in Water and Chemical Consumption

Solenis LLC, a leading global producer of specialty chemicals, is proud to announce that Diageo, a global leader in beverage alcohol, is a 2023 Solenis Sustainability Award winner. Diageo, whose brands include Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Captain Morgan, Baileys, and Smirnoff is being recognized for initiatives that allowed the company to reduce water consumption by more than 20% and chemical consumption by 23% across its eleven African breweries.

As Diageo works toward it’s ESG targets, they have invested in water recovery plants at five of its largest breweries in Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria, and has leveraged the technical know-how of the team members from Diversey, a Solenis Company, together with its extensive product portfolio, to maximize the volume of water recovered.

In addition, Diversey, through its proprietary AquaCheck™ program, has helped to identify and support the implementation of water reduction projects across all brewery operations, focusing primarily upon hygiene applications such as clean-in-place and bottle-washing.

In total, these optimization initiatives have reduced the total volume of water consumed across the eleven African breweries by over 20% (a saving of more than 1 million cubic meters per annum). At the same time, the projects identified and implemented by Diversey have also led to a 23% reduction in volume of chemicals consumed by Diageo across these sites.

Colin O’Brien, Global Head of Beer Supply at Diageo noted, “Water is the most important resource at Diageo for our communities, our operations, and our products, so any project that reduces water consumption is a high priority for the business. Our collaboration with Diversey has been instrumental in realizing our water-reduction targets. Together, we are making great progress and are well on track to meet our 2030 goals.”

Neil Johnson, Global Corporate Accounts Director at Solenis (Food & Beverage), also credited the partnership for advancing both companies’ sustainability goals, saying, “Solenis is more than just a supplier and we are committed to improve our own sustainability and that of our customers. Through our AquaCheck methodology and our holistic approach to water management across the brewery, we are proud to support Diageo as it strives to achieve its challenging 2030 Spirit of Progress targets.”

Solenis established the Sustainability Awards in 2020 to recognize projects that deliver reduced water use, reduced energy consumption, decreased greenhouse gas emissions, optimized raw material utilization, or reduced waste.