Our brewing journey means shrinking our carbon footprint one step at a time
At Darling Brew, we’re serious about what we do. This is particularly true when it comes to caring for our environment. From our very first brew, we’ve dedicated each of our beers to one of Africa’s precious creatures.
When we built our state-of-the-art brewery in our hometown of Darling in the Western Cape, environmental concerns were top-of mind. We live here. It’s our home. We wanted our carbon footprint to be as small as possible, while making a positive impact in the community.
Sustainability was a key motivator, not because it’s a catchphrase, it’s how we live. A trip through Africa to drink in its majestic beauty is what inspired us to start brewing in the first place. The brewery we built from that inspiration was always going to be one that reflected our values of environmental awareness and living harmoniously with nature.
Not only did we want to brew delicious, satisfying beer, we wanted to do it in a way that was kind to the earth and all its creatures.
It Starts With Us
One such issue, something that has been a sore point for Darling Brew since its inception, is the use of plastic in packaging. From a cost and transport safety perspective our classic four-packs have always had to be shrink-wrapped in plastic.
More ecologically sound solutions were just too expensive and too complex for a start-up brewery struggling to get the best quality beer on shelves across the nation. Our shrink-wrap four-packs were a necessity we had to live with while we explored different options. The awesome beer in those bottles is only one part of the journey.
Exhaustive research into card or cardboard solutions has finally delivered a result. Working with Boland Printers, involved in the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) we’ve come up with a perfect fit.
Our new recyclable cardboard cartons are printed with environmentally friendly ink. Furthermore, there is no plastic involved in the shipping process. The cartons are stacked in pallets with no shrink-wrap for transport. That makes us happy.