Innovation

Jason and Kris Spaulding are the owners of Brewery Vivant and are the key players in implementing innovative ideas. Ms. Spaulding has always had an interest in the environment and being sustainable. Brewery Vivant has a remarkable 193 solar panel array, installed in 2016, and it is the largest solar array on a brewery in Michigan. This installation led them to a 10% on-site renewable energy generation. All of the rest of the energy they purchase for the brewery comes from 100% renewable sources of wind energy and landfill gas recaptures.

Inspiration

Spaulding has been interested in brewing since college. He opened New Holland Brewing Company in 1997 and then went forward to open Brewery Vivant. He attended Doemens Brewing Academy in Germany and visited multiple small breweries in the area with his co-owner and wife, Kris. He mainly works on the products and profitability, while his wife heavily focuses on Vivant’s triple bottom line and pursued being LEED certified along with being a West Michigan B-Corporation. She is the board chair of Local First and on the Sustainability subcommittee for the National Brewers Association and was named one of the 50 Most Influential Women in West Michigan in 2016.

The biggest influence for aspiring to be a leading brewery in sustainability are their children, Oliver and Sienna. Brewery manager Chris "Bates" Stoffel said "Jason and Kris believe being sustainable is the 'right thing to do' and want their children to be educated and influenced by doing so." He added that "their part in sustainability leaves hope for their children's future to experience and enjoy all the wonderful things in the environment that our world has to offer."

Overall impact

Within the community, Brewery Vivant constantly encourages their employees to volunteer at various locations. Their goal is 250 hours per year and in 2016 they completed 248.50 hours. The company gives 1% of all sales to charity each year. They also host benefit nights where all proceeds go to the host non-profit organization.

The brewery does their best to keep their food waste out of landfills to reduce the amount of methane that is omitted into the air. Landfills give off methane and it is one of the most harmful gases for the environment. Only 3% of waste went to the landfill in 2016, 8,491 cubic feet were recycled, and 79% of food waste was composted.

The company also benefits the environment with their aluminum can. Their cans have a 60 day loop from being recycled to being back on the shelf. Brewery Vivant strives to only use cans because 70% of the can's materials can be recycled. Customers using reusable beer growlers saved the company 13,617 cans a year. They also implemented Kimberly-Clark's RightCycle program which recycles used nitrile gloves. In the first six weeks of implementing this program, they diverted 40 pounds of gloves from the landfills.

Business benefit

The investment for the company's mission and vision to be sustainable was initially quite costly. Over time, their expenses are decreasing and allowing them to save more money. We asked Bates why their LEED certification was such a big deal and he responded by saying "Our LEED certification gives us bragging rights among other breweries."

The largest benefit for the brewery is that they are creating a positive image and great relationships with customers and local businesses. In 2016 customers consumed a total of 21 cows. Brewery Vivant donated 331,504 pounds of spent grain to a local farmer to feed his cattle which was the equivalent to feeding 36 cows. Also in 2016, about 66% of Brewery Vivant's expenses and supplies came from within 250 miles. They support their local community.

Social and environmental benefit

Brewery Vivant does many things including: composting their waste, maintaining a positive beer to water ratio, reusing water and recycling.They use high efficiency heating and cooling units with CO2 sensors and an extensive glycol cooling system to both cool the tanks and the draft beer cooler.

The rainwater runoff is recaptured into a cistern and released into the ground to help the city's wastewater treatment plant. Brewery Vivant uses no potable water for landscaping and within the beer garden, making it highly efficient. The sinks are censored to reduce water use and use low flow toilets and waterless urinals to save 50,000 gallons of potable water every year.

They have a goal of zero waste and compost on a majority of their consumables. They donate their spent grain to local farmers to feed their cattle. Spent grain normally constitutes about 85% of a brewery's total by-product.

The employees of the brewery live quite close to the company itself; 31% of the employees live within one mile and 69% live within five miles, reducing emissions by walking, biking and carpooling. Composting and recycling helped them divert the amount of trash they were contributing to landfills every week. Composting also helps reduce the company all carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions. Stoffel noted that working at Brewery Vivant has had an influence with employees and himself at home. "With the owners being so passionate about sustainability efforts, it has over poured into the employees' everyday lives now." He added that "I own a rain barrel and composter at my house now which has led me to reuse water and reduce my own carbon footprint."

Interview

Chris "Bates" Stoffel, Manager