Reducing Waste and Resources

The Tahona Society Collective Spirit invites you to submit original concepts that aim to improve sustainability in the drinks industry to be in with a chance of winning $50,000. Among the five categories, is Reducing Waste and Resources.

This category focuses on the enormous amounts of waste in the drinks industry and what we can do to change it. For instance, cutting out practices which produce waste, making waste work in your bar, reducing the use of precious resources and reducing consumption of energy.

There are endless ideas just waiting to be discovered. Read on to find out how two projects used their resources to help their communities, then watch the video to see behind the scenes on Casa del Agua.

Casa del Agua

Bosco Quinzanos is the co-founder of Casa del Agua, a bottled water establishment which began in Mexico City. Bosco explains many were sceptical of drinking the supposedly polluted local rainwater. Yet, Casa del Agua provides the highest quality of water to local communities.

Bosco and his team collect rainwater, purify it then bottle it, offering the neighbourhood clean and mineral-rich drinking water. The company is committed to their sustainability values and the eco-system, principles which Bosco's family have admired and thus, transpired here at Casa del Agua.

Customers are encouraged to reuse their glass bottles which provides an alternative to imported water and its hefty carbon footprint. Locally sourced water cuts out the middle man, the air miles and the expense. For these reasons, locality certainly has a role to play in sustainable models.

For entrepreneurs in doubt Bosco Quinzanos says, "be committed to your principals, to your thoughts and to disregard the risk of taking the chance."

Trash Tiki

Kelsey Ramage and Iain Griffiths, founders of Trash Tiki, launched their concept in 2016. Their global pop-up initiative addresses the issue of waste in bar culture. Their programme began simply as a way to share recipes on how to reuse by-products and leftover scraps, hoping to reduce the large volume of waste created by cocktails.

Trash Tiki focuses on bartenders and their practices within a bar setting. Kelsey and Iain will look at the waste normally thrown away, such as bar prep, juicing by-products and garnishes. They then demonstrate how these can be reused for ingredients in cocktail recipes and encourage bartenders to apply these recipes in their bar.

Efficient and cost effective, locality plays an important role in Trash Tiki's model as they propose sourcing things locally or working with other businesses, where possible. Their belief upon sustainable values is only in its early stages, as they aim to bring anti-waste awareness to bars all across the globe.

Get Involved

Are you ready to join the sustainable improvement journey? Then find out how to enter your concept now.

We've got more tips over on our inspiration page where you can find out more about the five categories of the competition.