Busselton's Rocky Ridge Brewing Co will take on the national stage for promoting sustainability.
The brewery was recently recognised for promoting sustainability at the 2022 WA Telstra Business Awards.
The company is well on the pathway to zero carbon emissions by 2023 by implementing green initiatives, including off-grid power, water usage reduction, packaging, greener pastures, and business sustainability.
Brewery founder Hamish Coates said as of 2020 the business' supply chain from raw ingredient procurement, through production and packaging, taphouse, as well as any staff travel was fully carbon neutral through carbon offsetting with Carbon Neutral Australia.
"Over time, our simple ideology of 'everything we brew, we grow' has evolved, but our desire to push the boundaries of sustainability in our industry has not wavered," he said.
The brewery operates completely off-grid for power, relying on solar and battery technology.
To reduce water, the brewery has scaled down its usage to four litres for every litre of beer produced.
Mr Coates said this was lower than the industry average of over seven litres and Rocky Ridge aimed to reach 2.5 litres per litre by 2023 through biological processes to upcycle treated wastewater.
"This involves on site bioreactors that consume CO2 from our manufacturing to grow algae, a valuable food source for our farm," he said.
"We hope to take this further in 2022 and develop on site hydrogen generation from wastewater, which would give us better access to power generation and heating, fueling further green development on site."
In terms of waste, the brewery uses packaging that is as environmentally sustainable as possible.
This includes cartons made from 100 per cent sustainably sourced cardboard, the four pack holders are made from sugar cane pulp and are 100 per cent biodegradable, and they choose cans over glass bottles as aluminum is 100 per cent recyclable.
The brewery will be competing with six other state winners at the Promoting Sustainability Award at the Telstra Business Awards National Gala Event.
The awards were created to provide small and medium-sized businesses a platform to celebrate achievements and stories with their peers, and opportunities to learn from Australia's best business minds.
