The water treated by AB InBev in Leuven is transported a few kilometres further to a local farmer’s flower field in Bierbeek. After weeks of drought, it makes all the difference there. AB InBev perfectly illustrates how collaboration can help bring the circular economy to life.
If it doesn’t rain
AB InBev treats around 3 million litres of water every day at its brewery in Leuven. Some of this water is reused outside the brewery. The city of Leuven uses it, for example, to water plants, but also farmers can benefit from it. That is why Michaël Vanhulst, a horticulturist in Bierbeek, visited the brewery to collect 30,000 litres of treated water.
“I think it’s brilliant that AB InBev, a global giant, is making water available to a small local florist,” he explains. The fact that a brewer is helping farmers is, incidentally, less of a coincidence than it might seem. After all, beer, too, has its origins in the fields:
A good beer starts with natural ingredients from the fields; that is why we believe it is important to support farmers. This initiative shows how agriculture and the food industry can support one another in difficult circumstances.
- Aron Wils, spokesperson for AB InBev
Every drop counts
Increasingly prolonged periods of drought are making water an ever more pressing shared concern. Rainwater retention basins are running dry and, during periods when water abstraction is prohibited, farmers’ options are even more limited. Alternative water sources can therefore make all the difference.