KENYA– East African Breweries Ltd (EABL), Bio Food Products and New KCC took first, second and third positions respectively from their initiatives on how to make their businesses more sustainable at the just concluded Africa Food Industry Excellence Awards.

The event which will be remembered for its glitz, fun and networking, was the climax of a year’s process aimed at celebrating the region’s very best individuals, plants, innovations and company initiatives in the food industry.

EABL won the Sustainability Initiative of the Year award for its Energy Efficiency Improvement Program at its Ruaraka brewery in Nairobi, Kenya, which has also seen them named the best in energy management in the Diageo Group for breweries using returnable bottles.

Based on a 12-week rapid deployment with a break of 4 weeks to review progress of the project, then another deployment for 12 weeks, the initiative has seen the beer maker beat the mark of 120KJ/HL set for such facilities to average 96KJ/HL of beer.

The three-pronged Bio Sustainability Program ranked second after scoring highly on the PET reduction and recycling pillar, in which they have managed to reduce their PET bottle weight by 30% and are now recycling 95% of their industrial waste in partnership with Taka Taka Solutions.

The other pillar in the Bio initiative is on energy efficiency that aims at considerably reducing the energy consumption in their production process.

New KCC entry focused more on energy and water management and came in at position three to wrap up the best three initiatives in the Sustainability Initiative of the Year category.

Their initiative, coded, Resource Efficient and Sustainable Cleaner Production, has enabled the government owned milk processor to make substantial strides in cost reduction through reduced energy and water wastage.

The initiative also has a take back program for their plastic packaging materials which they shred and sell to recycling entities.

The Sustainability Initiative of the Year, an addition to this year’s expanded Awards process, gave food manufacturers, retailers and food service operators to shine a light on their initiatives aimed at reducing their impact on the world in which we live in, with a focus on water, energy and waste management.

With sustainability gaining more traction in the industry, this Award was the first effort to highlight how companies have incorporated sustainability in their local operations in the region

About the Awards

The Africa Food Industry Excellence Awards are Africa’s most prestigious food industry awards.

The Awards celebrate some of the most outstanding people, new products and company initiatives in the food, beverage and milling industry in Africa.

Now in its second year, the Awards ceremony attracted the who-is-who in the food manufacturing, retail and foodservice industry in the region, with over 400 people attending the event, which took place from 14.00 hours till late.

This year’s Awards had a larger and expanded category profile, with new categories (new plants, new products, sustainability and training initiatives) added on top of the individual award categories from the 2017 edition of the Awards.

Countries eligible for the Awards were also expanded beyond Kenya, to include companies from Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi and Ethiopia.

The next edition of the Africa Food Industry Excellence Awards ceremony will be held on July 12, 2019 in Kigali, Rwanda.

Individuals and companies are encouraged to enter their applications for next year’s Awards process, which open on November 1, 2018.

More information about the Awards can be found on www.awards.foodbusinessafrica.com