Bacardi Barrel Recycling Serves up a Greener Rum

Bacardi is ensuring green cocktails are always on the menu with an innovative scheme to recycle old barrels used in the rum brewing process.

The American white oak barrels used to give the spirit its particular flavour are used for about 20 years before they have to be retired.

Now Bacardi Corporation in Puerto Rico has revealed how old barrels are being ground into woodchips that are then spread as mulch for landscaping. The company announced last week that the recycling effort was not only helping to beautify the 127-acre campus of the world's largest premium rum distillery, but was also supplying employees with nutrient-rich mulch that they can use on their own lawns and gardens at home.

"If we didn't recycle, our barrels would eventually go to a landfill, which is not the best option for a small island like Puerto Rico," said Lissette Sepulveda, environmental health and safety coordinator for Bacardi Corp.

"Turning old rum barrels into mulch helps achieve our global sustainability goal to return to the environment at least as much as we take away."

The initiative is part of the 152-year-old company's Good Spirited global sustainability programme, which commits it to a range of environmental targets to be met between 2017 and 2022.

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Media Contacts

Patricia M. Neal/Amy Federman, +1.441.294.1110, afederman@bacardi.com