OUR SUSTAINABILITY JOURNEY

Doing the right thing, now, to build a better future.

Our Sustainability
Journey
Our Sustainability
Journey
Our Sustainability
Journey
Our Sustainability
Journey
Our Sustainability
Journey
Our Sustainability
Journey

Our Sustainability
Journey

Our Sustainability
Journey
Our Sustainability
Journey
Our Sustainability
Journey
Our Sustainability
Journey
Our Sustainability
Journey
Our Sustainability
Journey

Since we started Lough Ree Distillery in 2018, sustainability has been at the forefront of what we do. It’s not easy starting a distillery from scratch, but we’re doing our best to build and grow our business in a responsible manner. We’re a family business and we’re building a legacy for future generations, we want that to be a sustainable, responsible legacy. We’re seeing the effects of climate change on the world, and among other things, that impacts on our environment and on the raw materials that we use, so it’s good business sense to run a sustainable and resilient operation and minimise our impact on the planet.

Our Commitment to Sustainability:
To date, we’ve taken several significant steps to improve our sustainability performance and will continue to do the right thing as our business evolves and grows. For us, this is not about collecting badges and winning awards, or making lofty future commitments, it’s about making the responsible choices now, for a better future, and being truthful about what we’re doing. And we will always try to do better as our business grows and develops.

Packaging

We have made great strides in this regard. Glass bottles are approximately a third of the Carbon Footprint of spirits and we’ve been moving our products to lightweight bottles to reduce our impact. At this stage, over 70% of our full-size bottles are in lightweight bottles.

We have pioneered the ecoSPIRITS Circular Economy Distribution system for spirits. This replaces single use glass bottles with returnable, refillable ecoTOTES, reducing waste and minimising carbon footprint. We’re the Irish operator for this and have replaced over 9000 single use glass bottles with spirits supplied in ecoTOTES.

We reuse as much incoming packaging as possible, and reuse is far better for the environment than recycling.

Local Suppliers

We actively try to source materials, supplies and services as locally as possible. This means we are reducing transport costs and associated emissions but also that we’re supporting other local businesses.

Energy

In our current premises, we are constrained on what we can do save energy; however, we make incremental improvements such as retrofitting lights, recovering heat from our cooling water and installing an electric car charging point.

As we move forward to build out our new distillery, we will undergo an Energy Efficient Design process and incorporate best practice technologies for energy efficiency, heat recovery and energy supply."

Community & Responsibility Community & Responsibility Community & Responsibility Community & Responsibility Community & Responsibility Community & Responsibility Community & Responsibility Community & Responsibility Community & Responsibility Community & Responsibility Community & Responsibility Community & Responsibility Community & Responsibility

Origin Green

We are very proud to be a verified Origin Green member. Origin Green is the only national food and drink sustainability programme that drives sustainability improvements across the entire supply chain at national level. We collaborate with other Origin Green members and choose suppliers who share our sustainability ethos.

Local & Community

We’re an integral part of the local community in Lanesborough and where possible we do our best to work with other organisations for the benefit of our community. This doesn’t just mean sponsoring events and fundraisers, it’s much more than that, we genuinely want to make a positive impact beyond the bounds of our distillery. We are active participants in local community, tourism and development initiatives, because we believe in the potential of our hometown and the beautiful region that surrounds us.

We provide internships for third level students from both Ireland and abroad, giving them valuable work experience.

We are actively involved in sustainability initiatives and education within the Irish Drinks sector through Drinks Ireland and The Irish Whiskey Association.

lough ree winner of sustainability award

Irish Whiskey, Gin and Vodka

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