Reducing and recycling waste
Rémy Cointreau closely monitors the entire life cycle of its products to reduce and recover its waste.
Generally, waste from the production sites is used in "material" or energy recovery channels. This concerns mainly packaging waste: glass and cardboard. In the past two years, waste monitoring and treatment indicators have included a distinction between material and energy recovery. The Group’s primary aim is to reduce waste tonnage and to prioritise material recovery over energy recovery.
In Cognac, alongside label designer and expert Litho Bru, the House of Rémy Martin has committed to a programme for the optimisation of raw materials and waste management. The House has investigated a method of recycling label backing sheets – glassine, which generates up to 30tonnes of material every year – at the merchant’s site. At the same time, about 10,000 pieces of canister waste per year are now dismantled (separation of scrap metal and cardboard) and recycled, while wood offcuts generated by the Product Development Centre (PDC) are now shredded and recycled.
In most of the Group’s sites, cardboard cups have replaced plastic cups in vending machines, aluminium water bottles have been provided to employees, and water fountains have been installed. The Westland site has switched to compostable cups and an initiative has been launched to train employees in good waste management techniques and in identifying what can be recycled and composted.
For the past year, the Paris administrative site has been collecting plastic caps in partnership with the "Les Bouchons d’Amour" association. Recycling the collected caps allows the association to purchase specific equipment for disabled sportsmen and women, and helps to improve living conditions for people suffering from a disability.
On the island of Barbados, Mount Gay introduced a new waste processing line in 2019, mainly for glass, cardboard and plastic. This year once again, employees were made aware of waste management and sorting. The initiative was supplemented by an internal glass and plastic recycling campaign to encourage employees to better sort waste.
The total waste produced (2,382 tonnes) was down 4%. The material recovery rate was 88%, up 2% on the previous year. The energy recovery rate was stable at 6%. The waste recovery rate this year was 95%, up 2% on 2019/2020.
