SA distiller captures C02

2008-02-04 14:10

Johannesburg - South African distiller and vintner Distell said on Monday that it is actively engaged with suppliers, wine industry bodies and academic institutions to reduce its own carbon footprint.

It explained that it was currently piloting the capture and re-use of the carbon dioxide (CO2) released during the production of its apple ciders at its manufacturing plant in Paarl, which harvests and purifies to food grade quality the CO2, and is then used to carbonate Distell's ciders and ready-to-drink beverages.

Dr Gert Loubser, Distell's director of quality management and research said that the company's latest initiative is just one example of its efforts to contain its impact on the environment.

But he said that central to any strategy designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions is the capacity to measure output.

"It is for this reason that Distell is very closely involved at industry level with an international project to establish a globally accepted basis for calculating greenhouse gas emissions," he said.

He said that the system used as a measurement for quantifying CO2 emissions that occur throughout the growing, production, packaging and transportation of wine was called the International Wine Industry Greenhouse Gas Accounting Protocol and Calculator system.

It measures a number of things, including the impact of nitrogenous fertilisers, the carbon absorption by vines, fuel use, refrigeration, fermentation emissions as well as CO2 used in processing.

He added that it also takes into account the treatment of waste, packaging, freight and employee travel, and said that a protocol was being developed and tested by Provisor, an Australian consulting company as part of a joint project by the Australian, South African, New Zealand and Californian wine industries.

Loubser also said Distell was a shareholder and board member of the Glass Recycling Company, a not-for-profit venture involving glass manufacturers and bottlers, endorsed by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.

He explained that Distell also works with the University of Stellenbosch to ensure efficient effluent treatment across all its production sites, involving the production of not only ciders and wine, but also brandies, other spirits and ready-to-drink products.

"We have just installed an effluent water treatment plant at our Durbanville Hills cellars, equipped with an aerobic respirator that aerates and purifies all the effluent water to irrigation quality," he concluded.

- I-Net Bridge (News24)