In 2018, 9 Belgian breweries pledged to work towards a more sustainable use of water through the Green Deal Brouwers and this number has since risen to 16. The Flemish Environment Agency (Vlaamse Milieummaatschappij), has drawn up an interim report showing that the participating breweries have reduced their water consumption by 289m litres, or as much as 115 Olympic swimming pools.
The Green Deal has been in effect for a little over two years now and during that time brewers have taken many steps. This decrease is due to a series of measures, in particular:
- Installation of additional flowmeters and dashboards.
- Optimisation of cleaning installations and rinsing machines.
- Installation of new barrel and bottle lines
- Installation of facilities for the reuse of treated wastewater
- Groundwater pumping so that construction can continue in dry conditions.
- Reducing water consumption throughout the production process
