Happy 1st Anniversary to changemaker: Ryan Tracy of beer on the wall

Do you see important connections with the role you play in our community and our future on this planet?  Would you like others in our community to know more about your efforts?

Ryan Tracy, Beer On The Wall: We absolutely feel that as part of our local community as well as the beer community that each business decision we make should also have some degree of consideration towards environmental concerns.  Brewers themselves are making tremendous strides with renewable energy-fueled breweries, and selling their spent grain to farms as feed for animals, so on the retail side of things we wanted to do our part as well.  Our biggest waste is cardboard boxes/trays from which we receive our beer as well as aluminum and glass bottles that are consumed on site.  When we first opened it was very important for us to engage our waste management company and get a recycling program set up for our store.  We estimate about 2/3rds of our waste is cardboard, aluminum, and glass and based on watching our recycling bin fill up about twice as fast as our landfill bin.

In addition, we also have made some small changes within our operation to make ourselves more eco-friendly as well.  To reduce plastic/paper bag waste, we give members of our club a reusable bottle bag, and give them discounts for coming back with it.  Our coffee service uses compostable straws, cups, and lids, and both coffee and beer consumed on-site is served in a re-usable glass.  For theupcoming season we will be adding a new re-usable cups that our patrons can buy, come in and fill up to-go or use to drink from on-site that will also come with a discount just like the bottle bag.  Finally, our point-of-sale system is equipped with capability to send receipts via e-mail or text thus reducing our paper use as well.  

Beer On The Wall