Black Sheep Brewery is one step closer to producing beer using renewable energy, after signing a three-year deal with biogas producer, Warrens Group.
The agreement will also support the sustainability of the Masham-based brewery by generating a new income stream from the by-products from its brewing process.
Items like spent grains, hops and yeast will be purchased and collected by Warrens Group, as well as food waste from Black Sheep’s popular visitors centre restaurant, for use in its production of biogas and to also fuel its fleet of gas-powered vehicles.
Newton Aycliffe-based Warrens Group is one of the first food waste recycling companies in the UK to power its HGV waste collection vehicles with biogas converted directly from its own customers.
The company is a pioneer of food waste recycling, which generate more than 100 million kWh of clean, green, energy every year through its eight UK sites.
It uses a process of anaerobic digestion at its facility in County Durham to produce gas, which are then used as fuel, either for grid resources such as heat and electricity generation, or as biofuels for vehicles.
Entering into this new deal supports Black Sheep’s commitment to greener brewing in line with government guidelines, which assess brewers on their energy usage and carbon dioxide output under the Climate Change Agreement.
It will also support the brewery’s ambition to use 100% renewable energy in the production of its range of beers and lager in line with the retail and wholesale industries’ targets for reduce environmental impact from within its supply chains.
Dan Scott-Paul, head brewer at Black Sheep Brewery, said: “We’re really proud to enter into this new partnership with Warrens, which will make us a more sustainable brewery both financially and environmentally.
“Demonstrating that 100 percent of our brewing by-products will support renewable energy generation is an important part of our contribution to an environmentally conscious food and drink industry.
“It also puts us on the road to our ambition of brewing using only renewable energy, some of which will be generated by the waste products we provide.”