Diageo’s East African Maltings plant (EAML) in Kenya has celebrated its achievements in water conservation at a special Environmental Breakthrough Workshop, ahead of World Water Day on March 22, 2012. EAML is part of East African Breweries Limited, the region’s leading branded beverage alcohol company in which Diageo is a majority shareholder.

The workshop brought together Diageo’s key African supply sites to share best practice and showcase the project work that has taken place at EAML and other sites.

International World Water Day, held annually on March 22, 2012, and instituted by the United Nations, aims to focus the world’s attention on the importance of freshwater and advocates for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

EAML is setting a high standard for operational water conservation in East Africa, by improving water efficiency.  Through a combination of employee engagement, operational efficiencies and creative engineering projects, including an innovative water recovery system, the team at EAML has improved water efficiency at the site by 35% between 2008 and 2011. 

It now takes 6.7 litres of water to process 1kg of malted barley, as opposed to the previous figure of 10.5 litres. The EAML’s water conversation efforts heralded such strong results in 2011, the plant was awarded a coveted gold GREENiQ medal for water conservation.

"Ahead of World Water Day 2012, it’s a great time to celebrate some of the inspirational work that we have done and continue to do around water conservation in Africa,” says John Council, Supply Director, Diageo Africa.

 “Water is an absolutely critical asset for our business so it is essential that we continue to invest in improving how we manage it.  EAML has set a shining example to all of our sites in Africa - particularly those that are in water stressed areas – and we are committed to increasing efficiency rates and reducing waste water across the Africa supply organisation. The GREENiQ medals have certainly helped encourage this step up in water performance.”

GREENiQ is an inspirational engagement programme developed by Diageo to help deliver its challenging 2015 environmental targets.  The programme is designed to capture the interest of the 23,000 employees around the globe and to encourage them to think of more environmentally friendly ways to work.  Teams across the business compete to win gold, silver, or bronze Olympic style medals.

Globally, Diageo has committed to increasing water efficiency by 30% by 2015, reducing water wasted at water stressed sites by 50% and reducing the polluting power of waste water by 60%, against a 2007 baseline.

About East African Breweries Limited

East African Breweries Ltd is East Africa’s leading branded alcohol beverage business and has an outstanding collection of beer and spirit brands. With breweries, distillers, support industries and a distribution network across the region, the group’s diversity comprising of over 1,700 employees is an important factor in delivering the highest quality brands to East African consumers and long-term value to East African Investors. Some of the brands include mainstream beer- Tusker Lager, Tusker Malt Lager, White Cap Light, Bell Lager, and Guinness. Non- Alcoholic brands are Malta Guinness and Alvaro (Pineapple, Pear and Passion fruit). Spirits include Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff Vodka, Richot, Bond 7 and Uganda Waragi.  EABL is cross-listed in the three East African Countries- Nairobi, Uganda, and Dar es Salaam Stock Exchanges and is the largest business by market capitalization in the regional bourses.

About Diageo

Diageo is the world's leading premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across spirits, wines and beer categories. These brands include Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, JεB, Buchanan’s, Windsor and Bushmills whiskies, Smirnoff, Cîroc and Ketel One vodkas, Baileys, Captain Morgan, Jose Cuervo, Tanqueray and Guinness.

Diageo is a global company, with its products sold in more than 180 countries around the world. The company is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange (DEO) and the London Stock Exchange (DGE). For more information about Diageo, its people and its brands, visit www.diageo.com. For Diageo’s global resource that promotes responsible drinking through the sharing of best practice tools, information and initiatives, visit www.DRINKiQ.com.

Celebrating life, every day, everywhere.

Diageo

Diageo

About Diageo

Diageo is the world’s leading premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across spirits, beer and wine. These brands include Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, J&B, Buchanan's, Windsor and Bushmills whiskies, Smirnoff, Cé®roc and Ketel One vodkas, Baileys, Captain Morgan, Tanqueray and Guinness. Diageo is a global company, with its products sold in more than 180 countries around the world. The company is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange (DEO) and the London Stock Exchange (DGE).

Diageo is proud to be a company whose purpose is 'celebrating life, every day, everywhere'. Our sustainability & responsibility strategy, which covers our social, environmental and economic impacts, is key to living that purpose and to delivering our long-term success Key impact areas include: alcohol in society, water, environment, communities, our people and compliance and ethics.

Visit www.diageo.com to find out more about Diageo and www.diageoreports.com to see our Sustainability & Responsibility Report.

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