Brussels Beer Project is a tasty example of using industrial and urban symbiosis to achieve circularity, situated in the heart of Belgium.
Brussels Beer Project brews their beers on the edge of the Brussels canal, in the Anderlecht port area. The finished products are then transported via the same waterway, making the most of their location near the waterfront. By choosing to start their activities in the port, they are breathing new life into the once bustling brewery scene of Brussels.
Circularity is at the core of this project. One of their most famous brews is Babylone, a beer made with leftover, unsold bread from a local supermarket chain. Though Cookie is made with broken speculoos from a nearby cookie factory. These types of symbiotic relationships provide Brussels Beer Project with the raw material they need, whilst preventing food waste. The project also tries to find solutions for their own waste products. After the brewing process, all spent grains are re-used for cow’s feed or methanation.
Port Brussels shared this heartwarming video about Brussel Beer Project and its co-founder Olivier de Brauwere.
In addition to their circular ambitions, Olivier and his business partner also want to have a positive impact on the surrounding industrialized neighborhood and its inhabitants. Their annual Biergarten is a hit with the locals.
