Waste reduction center certifies growing number of Iowa breweries

For 34 years, the University of Northern Iowa-based Iowa Waste Reduction Center has been helping small businesses statewide curtail waste and limit their environmental impact — aiding those in the farming, painting, dry cleaning and dentistry trades.

But about seven years ago, small-business requests for help from the center began to taper.

“So we tried to take a look and be proactive and figure out how we can still benefit the state,” Joe Bolick, director of the Iowa Waste Reduction Center — or IWRC — told The Gazette. “We just tried to look at some industries in Iowa — with the caveat of we want an industry that's rapidly growing and one that has some fairly significant, resource-intensive potential for environmental impact.”

Craft brewing, Bolick said, “seemed like a natural fit” for a targeted industry-specific program.

“It’s been a product that’s been near and dear to my heart for a long time,” he said. “So that made it even more fun.”

In 2016, the IWRC surveyed 17 local Iowa brewers — about half the state’s brewers at the time — to find out what resources the center could provide and how it could best assist them. Through that assessment, the UNI center in 2017 developed an “Iowa Green Brewery Certification” program.

It functions as a free service for Iowa breweries interested in implementing sustainable practices in the areas of:

Key to the program are site visits from IWRC team members who assess and score the breweries in those areas. A business, for example, can achieve a maximum score of 33 in the area of energy efficiency for — among many other things — having pipes free of leaks and efficient entries into walk-in refrigerators and freezers.

Breweries can earn up to three points for having an appropriate water-to-beer ratio and another five points for diverting spent grains and food waste from the landfill.

The highest total score is 100, and businesses are slotted into one of four sustainability categories based on their point totals: platinum being the best, followed by gold, silver, and bronze.

To achieve platinum status, a brewery must score 96 points or higher; gold breweries score between 86 and 95; silver get 76 to 85 points; and bronze breweries score from 65 and 75.

The Iowa Green Brewery Certification program — upon completing its assessment — issues a news release and provides the businesses with window clings, a certificate of achievement, and social media promotion. But it also produces a recommendations report allowing a brewery to better its score.

“Then we will work with them until they’re at a score that they’re happy with,” Bolick said. “So it's more than just a one-time audit. Some of these breweries we work with continuously.”

The first certified brewery was SingleSpeed Brewing of Cedar Falls — which boasts a silver rating and has a separate Waterloo location that was awarded the program’s first platinum rating. At the request of the businesses, the program to date has certified 31 breweries among the state’s growing number — which has boomed to more than 110.

“We've just seen that number skyrocket through the years, and we're doing our best to keep up,” Bolick said. “Those that are interested and want our assistance, we’re more than glad to help out.”

Of the breweries with ratings — only three have earned platinum scores, including SingleSpeed, Big Grove Brewery in Iowa City, and Exile Brewing Company in Des Moines.

“Big Grove Brewery’s Iowa City facility, originally certified as a gold brewery in 2018, has most recently achieved a platinum level certification for their overall environmental commitment, focusing on solid waste management and energy efficiency,” according to the certification program. “From the implementation of permeable pavers on their patio to installing an infuser in the brewhouse — Big Grove has taken significant steps in their sustainability journey.”

Eight have achieved a gold rating, including the most recently-certified Worth Brewing in Northwood. Originally certified at the bronze level in 2017, Worth has implemented several new waste reduction initiatives and improved its energy efficiency and environmental management practices, in part, by using “all high-efficiency equipment and minimizing wastewater discharge from the brewing process.”

Worth also locally sources its oats, honey, and hops, according to the certification program.

Worth owner Peter Ausenhus, Bolick said, “is really doing some impressive things in the world of sustainable craft brewing.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com