Milorad Djurisic, production director at Carlsberg Serbia - Saving 15 percent of energy per year

(Milorad Djurisic)

Thanks to recycling, only two percent of Carlsberg's waste have ended in a landfill this year, three percent less than in 2011. The company Carlsberg Serbia have had 38 tonnes of hazardous waste recycled, thus reducing both the risk of pollution and the amount of toxic waste. Chemicals packaging accounts for the highest percentage of that waste - 61 percent, followed by waste oils and electrical and electronic waste - 19 percent.

Also, Carlsberg Serbia recycles unusable wood pellets, which are processed to produce briquettes that are used for heating and serve as a replacement for solid fuels. Biogas produced through anaerobic treatment of own waste water is also used in the generation of heat, and its share in the total gas consumption amounts to 15 percent.

In a talk with eKapija, Milorad Djurisic, production director at Carlsberg Serbia, speaks about the ways in which this brewery has managed to boost its production efficiency.

eKapija: Your impact on the environment has grown significantly with the growth of your production. What measures has Carlsberg Serbia taken to make that impact positive?

- Constant investment in environment protection is one of the fulcrums of Carlsberg Serbia's operations. Among the numerous activities focused on the care of the environment, the most important from the viewpoint of production process is to try to reduce the impact on environment at the very start of your work on a preliminary design for a project.

Namely, during 2012, as many as 57 percent of our products have been packed in returnable packaging, that is, kegs and glass that can be used more than once, which helps Carlsberg Serbia significantly reduce the production of waste.

eKapija: In which way do you cut municipal and deposited waste and how do you focus on its management?

- As I already mentioned, thinking up a rationalized preliminary solution represents the first step in the process of waste reduction. Other important steps for creating a product of the highest quality possible and cutting the waste it can produce are definitely related to its further optimization, part of which is the reduction of impact on the environment. With the aim of decreasing that impact, it is of utmost importance to further optimize ready-made products by using new solutions and technologies and enable their reuse and recycling.

In the beer industry, recycling of glass bottles and tin cans is an activity that is the most visible to the public and consumers. However, equally important is the recycling of other packaging materials (secondary raw materials) and the adequate disposal of hazardous waste.

This year we have implemented new solutions for converting deposited waste into a useful resource ready for reuse or further sale, which has contributed to a substantial increase in our revenues when compared to the previous year. For example, supercompost, one of the by-products of waste water treatment, is promoted as an organic fertilizer.

eKapija: In which way do you affect the reduction of consumption of natural resources?

There are many ways in which we continuously cut the consumption of natural resources. Optimization of production process is one of the basic ones. For example, it took 40 kW of electricity and 14 hectoliters of water to make a hectoliter of beer back in 2004, while now it takes only 17 kW and 4.5 hl of water to produce the same quantity of beer. Such savings decrease the impact on the environment to a significant extent, and they also mean the reduction of resource consumption and costs.

In addition to production optimization, reuse of resources (e.g., using already used water to rinse bottles for watering and cleaning the factory grounds) and recycling (e.g., recovering CO2 from the fermentation process and reusing it in bottling processes) are also some of the numerous methods aimed at preserving natural resources.

eKapija: When it comes to energy efficiency improvement through heating system, what has Carlsberg Serbia done in that respect?

- Heat consumption in the brewery is conditioned by the wort cooking process that affects consumption the most. For the sake of further optimization, Carlsberg Serbia first installed new boilers with a high utilization rate and then committed itself to optimizing consumption in all brewery departments through heat emitter insulation projects.

eKapija: How much energy do you save annually?

- Our energy savings on an annual basis amount to 15 percent, which results from the fact that the share of biogas in the total gas consumption for heat generation also amounts to 15 percent.

eKapija: Does the fact that Carlsberg Serbia is a member of the Carlsberg Group make it easier for you to introduce new systems?

- Work at the brewery that represents a part of one such large multinational like the Carlsberg Group makes the implementation of new ideas and projects much easer. Therefore, we quickly share our knowledge with the Group, introduce new systems on the basis of the experience of our companies in other countries, but we also do our best to set a good example for others.

eKapija: Do you plan to improve your production in some other way in the following period?

- Our motto "Semper Ardens" ("Always Burning") is a guideline for the improvement of production process and staff at the Carlsberg Group and its companies, and it is a lodestar for all our employees. Our plan for the future is to stay committed to fuel consumption optimization and environment protection through new improvement projects that will involve all our employees.

Jelena Djelic