Brewery turns leftovers into spinach - and water
In a sight that would delight Popeye, hundreds of beds of spinach are ripe for the picking in the South African city port of Gqeberha.
It is unusual phenomenon in an area plagued by drought and a water crisis, and perhaps just as unexpected is its site - a brewery.
The spinach crop is one outcome of several long-term water stewardship projects led by South African Breweries (SAB), along with Rhodes University, the Nature Resource Management Programme and other partners. Altogether the effort is providing leafy greens and much more to the local community - additional food security, new agricultural jobs and over US$130k of value to the local economy.
The project began 13 years ago when SAB paired up with Rhodes University, University of KwaZulu Natal and the Water Research Commission on a project to develop a fully green biological treatment solution for wastewater and other leftovers from the beer brewing process. The resulting system uses sustainable ponding and artificial wetland technologies to convert brewing by-products into nutrient-rich water.
"What began as a project to treat our water has become so much more"
Now SAB is taking its commitment to water stewardship one step further, with the development of a 2,000m2 commercial drip watering system for a local grower of spinach. The new crops are irrigated using the brewery wastewater, which has enough nutrients to eliminate the need for additional fertilisers and water usage. What’s more, the spinach beds reduce the nutrient concentration to such an extent that about 90% of the water can be recovered and reused in the brewery, closing the loop on water.
“What began as a project to treat our water has become so much more,” says Josh Hammann, SAB director of agricultural development. “This is not only a first-of-its kind green biological treatment system for a brewery in Africa, but we were also able to double our impact to reduce our internal water consumption, and can now provide a source of food and income to our local community.
“These projects get us closer to achieving our sustainability goal to improve water availability and quality in high-stress areas.”