This week, we were delighted to welcome our client, The HEINEKEN Company, for a visit to Belgium's second-largest brewer, Brouwerij Martens, as well as Belgium's largest retailer, Colruyt Group. Over the years, we have built more than 50 water and wastewater treatment plants for Heineken breweries in all continents and we keep sharing insights on new ways to improve treatment efficiency, reducing the water footprint or water recovery.

Heineken showed great interest in our new Anaerobic Tower technology implemented in the Martens Brewery wastewater treatment process. Organic pollution in the brewery wastewater is digested in 2 very compact anaerobic towers, with a very small footprint. In the Martens Brewery wastewater treatment plant retrofit, Waterleau also implemented a Membrane Bioreactor preparing the treated effluent for reuse.

As water is one of the 3 main ingredients in the brewing process, circular water use and increasing water efficiency directly impacts the brewery P&L. To avoid CAPEX and keep financial resources for capacity expansion, the financial framework consist of Waterleau’s Water-as-a-Service framework WaterLease.

To gain insights in another water reuse case, the Heineken delegation visited Belgium’s largest retailer Colruyt Group and learned how the retailer dramatically reduced its water footprint by recovering process and drinking water from sanitary and factory wastewater, as well as from stormwater.

With our clients, we are committed to protect our most valuable natural resource. We are particularly proud for assisting The Heineken Company in their journey to a sustainable future. We have designed and build more than 50 water and wastewater facilities for Heineken, and hope to continue our journey to a green future