Black Sheep Brewery signs three year biogas sustainability deal

Spent grains, hops and year will be purchased and collected by Warrens group – as well as food from Black Sheep’s visitor centre restaurant – for use in its production of biogas and to also fuel its fleet of gas-powered vehicles.

The deal will support the brewer’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. 

Renewable energy​

Black Sheep planned to use 100% renewable energy in the production of its range of beers and lager, in line with retail and wholesale industries’ targets to reduce the environmental impact from within their supply chains.

Dan Scott-Paul, head brewer at Black Sheep, said the new partnership with Warrens will make the business more sustainable – both financially and environmentally.

“Demonstrating that 100% 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,”​ said Scott-Paul.

Sustainable ambitions ​

“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.”​

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.

It uses a process of anaerobic digestion at its facility in County Durham to produce gas to be used as fuel – either for grid resources such as heat and electricity generation, or as biofuels for vehicles.

Meanwhile, poultry giant Moy Park has become the first UK food business to receive the globally-recognised Chain of Custody (CoC) Standard​​ from the Round Table on Sustainable Soya Association (RTRS).