Media Advisory: Pollution Prevention Award to Widmer Brothers Brewery
WHAT: EPA, DEQ present Most Valuable Pollution Prevention (P2) Award to Widmer Brothers Brewery
WHEN: Tuesday, March 5, 2019, noon to 1 p.m. (includes optional tour of brewery)
WHERE: Widmer Brothers Brewery, 929 N. Russell St., Portland, OR 97227
WHY: Innovative pollution prevention projects continue to be vital for businesses seeking to reduce their environmental impacts. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and U.S. EPA are working with universities and non-profit organizations to help businesses develop innovative, non-regulatory solutions to environmental problems, while fostering economic growth and workforce development.
With support from EPA’s Pollution Prevention (P2) grant funding, DEQ worked with Oregon Sea Grant to develop the Oregon Applied Sustainability Experience, a statewide internship program that connects students with businesses to research waste prevention. Widmer Brothers Brewery, part of the Craft Brew Alliance, was the first Oregon business to volunteer to host an intern for the P2 project, focused on preventing waste and reducing wastewater at their brewery. Alan Haynes, an OSU engineering graduate, completed a 10-week internship to research innovative pollution prevention strategies to reduce and optimize wastewater discharges. Widmer Brothers implemented Haynes’ recommendations which included diverting brewing yeast to be repurposed off-site and increased waste solids monitoring. The results were significant.
Haynes’ pollution prevention project reduced 60 percent, or 6,000 pounds, of discharges of Total Suspended Solids, 11 percent, or 10,000 pounds, of Biological Oxygen Demand, a water pollution indicator. Widmer Brothers has saved over $150,000 annually by identifying operational changes and equipment to reduce waste water discharge.
On March 5 from noon to 1 p.m. at Widmer Brothers Brewery, DEQ, EPA and Oregon Sea Grant will celebrate the success of these innovators and their work in pollution prevention and sustainability. EPA will recognize Haynes, and present Widmer Brothers the 2018 Most Valuable Pollution Prevention award on behalf of the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable. For 20 years, the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable has recognized outstanding efforts across the U.S. to encourage others to develop P2 projects.
PARTICIPANTS:
Widmer Brothers Brewery, Craft Brew Alliance, Oregon DEQ, U.S EPA Region 10, Oregon Sea Grant, Oregon State University, City of Portland, Pollution Prevention Resource Center
CONTACTS:
Jenny McLean, Corp. Communications, Widmer Brothers, 503-331-7248, jenny.mclean@craftbrew.com
Tiffany Woods, Comms Manager, Oregon Sea Grant, 541-737-0756, tiffany.woods@oregonstate.edu
Jennifer Flynt, DEQ, Communications, 503-730-5924, flynt.jennifer@deq.state.or.us
Suzanne Skadowski, EPA, Communications, 206-553-2160, skadowski.suzanne@epa.gov