Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL) has a robust Society 2030 Sustainability Agenda: Becoming Sustainable by Design and is now taking it a notch higher with Project Rudisha.

Project Rudisha is an ambitious sustainable glass collection of Spirits business with the ambitious goal of shifting 100% from a way to a returnable glass model. By doing this, KBL converts spirits bottles into assets rather than the consumables that they have been.

This move is in line with KBL’s commitment to move from a linear to circular economy principle to eliminate waste that is restorative and regenerative and creates benefits for society and the environment.

The brands covered under Project Rudisha include Captain Morgan, Kane Extra, V&A, Mr. Dowell’s and Triple Ace Vodka. The project successfully debuted in 2023 when KBL partnered with distributors in Kisumu, Voi and Nairobi to pilot the initiative. During the pilot phase, over 5.76m bottles were collected in the first 3 months.

The cleaning process

Project Rudisha starts at the consumer level where distributors collect bottles from establishments and in the community where the product is consumed. The collected bottles are then sorted, processed and packaged in KBL plastic shells ready to be dispatched to KBL’s Ruaraka plant.

The project was designed and is continuously monitored by environmental socialists to ensure that it meets set environmental compliance standards and to ensure that due procedures are followed. Young people are employed to source, sort and undertake the initial cleaning of the bottles. To facilitate this process, distributors are paid for every bottle collected and reused.

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At Ruaraka, the bottles are received at the logistics yard where they are sorted and dispatched to the cleaning plant. At the highly computerized and monitored 4-hour cleaning plant, bottles are thoroughly cleaned inside and outside.

Through this process, the empty bottle inspector machine detects and rejects any bottle with cracks stains or liquids. There are also operators and quality analysts who monitor the process to confirm that the machine is indeed rejecting defective bottles.

Product filling and packaging

Once the cleaning team is satisfied that it has met the standards the bottles are conveyed to the UDV packaging lines. The packaging lines are a marvel. The bottles are once again rinsed and then sent to the filling machines to be filled with the choice spirit.

After the product has been filled into the bottle it is then capped and goes through the check mat that confirms the product has the right liquid level. The product then goes through the labelling and KRA stamping process. After this, the spirits are coded and packaged for distribution in Kenya and abroad.

The processes at the KBL plant are closely monitored. They are highly efficient to ensure minimal water and energy efficiency. Sustainability is not only an ethical obligation but also a legal imperative that KBL embraces wholeheartedly. KBL maintains a robust Occupational Health & Safety systems for staff and visitors and this is evidenced by the low number of accidents and incidences within the Ruaraka plant.

Besides the commercial benefits of Project Rudisha, the other embedded benefits include:

• Environmental sustainability: Fewer bottles will be manufactured contributing to less carbon emissions.
• Public health and safety: Sustained fight against counterfeit products
• Wealth creation: Job creation