Tapping into Environmental Harm in Brewing: An Exploration of Pollution and Waste in Beer Production
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Tapping into Environmental Harm in Brewing: An Exploration of Pollution and Waste in Beer Production Travis Milburn1 · Favian Alejandro Guertin‑Martín2
© Springer Nature B.V. 2019
Abstract The beer industry in the United States (US) is undergoing significant change as craft beer has grown exponentially in recent years. The number of craft breweries has increased threefold since 2011 (Brewers Association 2019b), and the US now features more than 6000 breweries of various sizes (Vorel 2017). As promising as this growth may be for the industry and beer enthusiasts, incidents of environmental degradation at the hands of breweries have persisted. This article draws from interviews with US craft brewers to explore the problem of environmental harm in the brewing industry. We focus on the consumption of freshwater and the disposal of wastewater, primarily within brewing facilities, but also across the beer supply chain. Finally, we consider the role of consumer-driven environmental consciousness as a mechanism to address environmental harm within the beer industry.
Introduction According to recent statistics, the number of beer breweries operating in the United States (US) is now about 6300 (Brewers Association 2018b) and hundreds more are slated to begin production in the near future. Craft beer is booming as the number of breweries has grown threefold since 2011 (Brewers Association 2019a, b). Despite this growth, several new and old breweries have been responsible for causing pollution and other environmental harms. For instance, in 2017, the owners of Tree House Brewing Company, located in Charlton, Massachusetts, were notified by the Charlton Water and Sewer Commission (the “Commission”) that their brewery was discharging “high levels of metals and other contaminants” into their local water treatment facility (Lee 2017: 1). (Water treatment facilities, which are also referred to as publicly operated treatment works (POTWs), are state-operated entities that serve as water treatment centers (Stretesky et al. 2014).) The notification listed the types of metals and contaminants released, including aluminum, ammoniacal nitrogen, copper, lead, nitrate, nitrite, phosphorous, and zinc. Brewery wastewater is regulated and permitted under the Clean Water Act (Brewers Association * Travis Milburn [email protected] 1
Penn State Shenango, 147 Shenango Avenue, Sharon, PA 16146, USA
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Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice, Arcadia University, 450 South Easton Road, Glenside, PA 19038, USA
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2017a); such water contains high levels of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and total suspended solids (TSSs) (Lee 2017: 1), which can have a negative impact on ecosystems. (For a detailed description of BOD, TSS, and other pollutants common in wastewater, see Stretesky et al. 2014.) The Commission also reported that prior to the construction of the brewery, “Charlton had been sending discharge to the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District in M
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