ICONIC BRANDS ABSOLUT, BEEFEATER, AND HAVANA CLUB JOIN PILOT PROGRAM TO REDUCE WASTE AND CARBON EMISSIONS ACROSS HONG KONG AND SINGAPORE BAR SCENE
Pernod Ricard, the world’s second largest wine and spirits company, is partnering with ecoSPIRITS to pilot an innovative closed-loop distribution system in Hong Kong and Singapore. Joined by the company’s iconic brands Absolut Vodka, Beefeater London Dry Gin, and Havana Club Rum, this partnership is the first of its kind for a global brand portfolio and will help reduce waste and carbon emissions resulting from the production and transportation of glass bottles and other secondary packaging.
This move strengthens Pernod Ricard’s position as an industry leader on sustainability. In 2019, the Group launched its 2030 S&R roadmap ‘Good Times from a Good Place’ which directly supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and addresses all aspects of the business, from grain to glass. The partnership is a strong demonstration of Pernod Ricard’s commitment to Circular Making, one of the four pillars of the roadmap: minimizing waste at every step by imagining, producing and distributing its products and experiences in ways that optimize and help preserve natural resources.
Hong Kong and Singapore have the highest density of bars and restaurants in the world. Although glass bottles behind the bars are infinitely recyclable, recent studies estimate that less than 15% of glass in Hong Kong and 11% of the glass in Singapore is actually being recycled, while the rest is sent to landfill[1].
The new collaboration will see Pernod Ricard’s premium spirits transported in bulk and delivered to bars in ecoSPIRITS’ patent-pending ecoTOTE format, a fully reusable 4.5-liter glass container, instead of 75cl glass bottles. Once empty, ecoTOTES will be returned to the ecoPLANT, where they are sanitized and refilled, in line with standards of leading international distillers.
With over 80 bars across Hong Kong and Singapore joining the pilot program, the initiative will reduce carbon emissions by an estimated average of 66% across the two cities compared to the traditional packaging and distribution model[2].
This partnership comes under the Bar World of Tomorrow initiative, which was launched by Pernod Ricard, Trash Collective and the Sustainable Restaurant Association in 2020 with the ambition to create a more sustainable and responsible bar world. In Hong Kong, Bar World of Tomorrow is partnering with Food Made Good Hong Kong to conduct a series of workshops dedicated to helping bartenders operate their businesses sustainably. A similar initiative will be launched in Singapore in the coming months.
“Our partnership with ecoSPIRITS as part of our Bar World of Tomorrow initiative, reflects our ambition to create more sustainable and responsible moments of conviviality. The global bar scene has suffered greatly during the pandemic, and this is all the more true now especially in Hong Kong. We believe in the fortitude and resilience of the industry, and we aim to help alleviate any burden that we can, including helping to introduce sustainable practices to their business in an effective way. EcoSPIRITS is a wonderful partner to help our industry minimize waste and its carbon footprint, while also protecting our natural resources.” says Hermance De La Bastide, VP Corporate Affairs and Sustainability & Responsibility at Pernod Ricard Asia.
“The transition to circular is one of the most important movements in the spirits industry today. ‘Circular Making’ offers the prospects of dramatically reducing our industry’s waste and environmental footprint. There is simply no more effective way to do our collective part in supporting the United Nations Development goals and the global drive to Net Zero,” notes Paul Gabie, ecoSPIRITS CEO, “Welcoming Pernod Ricard to the low carbon revolution is a major milestone, both for ecoSPIRITS and the industry. When industry leaders begin to back circular, our collective future gets brighter. We could not be more delighted to have Absolut Vodka, Beefeater Gin and Havana Club Rum join our ecoSPIRITS Climate Partner Program, a rapidly growing coalition of hundreds of brands, importers, distributors, wholesalers, bars, restaurants and hotels worldwide.”
Pernod Ricard hopes to bring more bars and restaurants to the ecoSPIRITS’ circular solution over the coming months with this pilot, before expanding the program to other key markets and brands across Asia and beyond.
[1] Monitoring of Solid Waste in Hong Kong - Waste Statistics for 2020 (wastereduction.gov.hk), National Environment Agency https://www.nea.gov.sg/our-services/waste-management/waste-statistics-and-overall-recycling
[2] Source: ecoSpirits Carbon Calculator