Molson in the Community

Minister Gerretsen at the Toronto Brewery with Molson Employees

It was a warm and enjoyable afternoon at Molson Brewery in Toronto when we were delighted to welcome Ontario’s Minister of the Environment, the Honourable John Gerretsen. I have had the pleasure of knowing John for over 25 years, dating back to his tenure as Kingston’s Mayor, and mine as a member of student government. Minister Gerretsen has a passion for his portfolio. After a quick greeting from our President Kevin Boyce our brewery Manager Wayne Arsenault and his team were very proud to showcase Molson and our efforts to protect our environment. Sebastien Charbonneau, our employees communications manager also rallied a number of employees together for a photo related to an energy conservation awareness campaign that ran in Toronto and all of our breweries across the country. Special thanks to Minister Gerretsen and his team for paying Molson a visit. His tour and interaction with our employees instills pride and awareness for all of us, about how important it is to do our part to protect the environment in which we work, live and play.

From left: Toronto Brewery Manager Wayne Arsenault and Minister Gerretsen

Video: Quick tour of bottle line and meeting the brewery employees

Last week was Energy Conservation Week across the province of Ontario and Peter Love Ontario’s Chief Conservation Officer was a man in high demand! Participation and support towards energy conservation came from every corner of the province. Thousands of Ontarians, from students to business people or politicians, all embraced and participated in activities related to the Energy Conservation Week.  We, at Molson, had recently held our own Brewery Energy Conservation Week (Week of April 28) and Peter took time from his busy schedule to stop by and visit us at the Toronto brewery. The Chief Conservation Officer was able to see for himself what we at Molson do and how we raise awareness of all employees to support energy conservation in their day-to-day work or at home. 

Peter came accompanied by two communication interns working with him at Ontario Power Authority. Also present for this visit where representatives of Enbridge Gas Distribution; Peter Goldman and Ashu Kahol. Peter and Ashu took this opportunity to present Molson with the sum of $18,915 in recognition of our conservation efforts.  (Thank you Enbridge Gas Distribution for this show of support and acknowledgement.)

The group spent a couple of hours with us at the brewery and learned about our Brewery Energy Conservation Program and various other energy conservation efforts implemented in our operations in the past few years. These efforts augment our energy efficiency and help us conserve those precious resources we all depend on. Our guests also gained knowledge of our recycling initiatives in place at Molson breweries across Canada. The group was then given a tour of the brewery packaging facility and met some of our employees working the line. Our guests were able to acknowledge employees directly for their energy conservation efforts. The visit was then concluded with the sampling of a fine cold Molson beer and a toast to energy conservation!

Above from Left:  Bike winner and Molson employee (bike donated by Energy @ Work) Gary Johnson, Molson employee Doug Dittburner, and Scott Rouse from Energy @ Work.

Last Friday, I took a stroll over to the Toronto brewery to see what was going on for Energy Week — it was great!  There were booths set up from different sponsors and organizations including Spirax Sarco, Enbridge, Energy@Work, Toronto Hydro and more. The Molson employees were able to go to the booths, learn about different energy saving initiatives, ask questions and submit ideas. 

At the end, tons of prize draws were done with prizes donated from Enbridge.  Every time a Molson employee submitted an idea for energy saving at the brewery, they received a raffle ticket. 

Would like to hear your ideas too!  How are you saving energy? 

Below: Molson employees: Doug Dittburner, Jennifer, Roy Mohabir

Below: Ashu Kahol from Enbridge

Below: Charles Elliott from Spirax Sarco Canada Limited

As you probably know, the issue of energy conservation is making headlines throughout the world today. The call to action is for all of us realize that to preserve our planet’s resources for generations to come; we all have to take action. At Molson, we depend on the future of natural resources such as water, hops or barley to make our beer. So, it’s absolutely critical for us to reduce our energy consumption and ensure those resources last, for at least a few more centuries.

I’m pleased to share on this forum that this week we launched our Energy Conservation Program across all of Molson breweries in Canada. It is an internal campaign which focuses on getting everyone working in the breweries involved in making small changes that can lead to big results in conserving water, electricity and natural gas. The program includes targets for reducing the amount of energy or water used in making our beers. There is a comprehensive communication plan focusing on raising the awareness amongst brewery personnel about the importance of being informed and mindful of their water and energy use at work of course but also at home. Their actions – for example, when they turn off equipment that is not in use, signaling leaking water taps – or switching off lights that are unnecessary can make a big difference. The plan is designed to increase their awareness of this and to encourage a change of behaviors and culture towards reducing wasted energy and water, at the brewery or at home.

It’s a new approach but energy efficiency is not a new to Molson. Over the years, we’ve already taken important steps to reduce our environmental footprint. For example, we target environmental conservation at all steps of the brewing process. We’ve also set standards in water management, waste reduction and recycling. Our recycling initiatives with beer bottles, aluminium and corrugated cardboard dramatically reduce land fill.

Looking ahead, the goal is to continue to reduce energy usage in our brewing process. The focus of the campaign is on three key energy sources: gas, electricity and water.

As individuals, we all have the power to make a difference for the environment, whether it’s at work or at home. Small gestures have a real, positive impact. For example, you can turn off a dripping tap, power off idling machines, turn off lights and computers.

We’ll keep track of our progress and we’ll regularly communicate results and provide updates and conservation ideas and tips to employees. The ultimate intent is to make Molson one of the most environmentally conscious and energy efficient breweries in the world.

Why? Simply put, because it’s the right thing to do, and together we have the power to make a difference!

It was an absolutely perfect day to participate in the Mayor’s 20-minute Makeover.  We couldn’t have asked for better weather to be outside helping to clean up Toronto!

This morning, about 100 Molson employees in Toronto gathered together and picked up garbage and debris around the office and brewery on Carlingview Drive.  We kicked-off the morning clean-up by leading the employees (with a bag pipe band!) to a flag raising ceremony, where they were addressed by Molson’s President and CEO Kevin Boyce and City Councillor Suzan Hall. After the flag was raised, we needed to make sure everyone was physically ready for the challenge….so we had a couple of Molson’s finest instruct the group with some warm-up exercises and stretches — Thanks ladies!

The clean-up was a complete success.  We had a great time being outside in the sunshine, and we picked up bags and bags worth of garbage.  Even found a broken speed limit sign!

Thank you to Suzan Hall for joining us today and thank you to all who volunteered….Proud to play our part!  Cheers.