New Finnish beer uses goose droppings for a circular economy
An innovative new beer by Finnish microbrewery, Ant Brew, will celebrate the European Green Capital year of the city of Lahti and share an important message of a wasteless circular economy.
Finland pushes to repurpose waste
Finland is often touted as the happiest country in the world. In the city of Lahti, its people are known for their pioneering environmental action, as Lahti was awarded the title of European Green Capital 2021. Local microbrewery, Ant Brew, has crafted a new beer series, brewed with wild herbs, local food waste - bread, berries and fruits – and now, goose droppings.
The goose poop is used in a food-safe way to smoke malt to create a unique stout beer. The goose droppings are gathered from local parks, where geese are causing a messy problem. Now, the local parks get cleaner in time for summer picnics.
This is an example of how food and drink items can utilise waste. City of Lahti aims to be completely wasteless circular economy city by 2050, and at the moment 99% of the city’s household waste is already repurposed.
Finland’s tasty answer to a circular economy
“A sustainable future demands effective use of resources and innovative ways of recycling”, said Saara Piispanen, Head of Communications of Lahti European Green Capital. “Lahti has several well-known breweries, so what would be a better way to celebrate our environment this summer than locally brewed beers?”
The beer that uses goose droppings in the malt smoking process will be released later in the summer.
First to be released is a wit-style beer inspired by waste-free circular economy: brewed with orange peels from a local market’s juice pressing station, and fruit purees that have exceeded their best before-date.
“This series of beers is our way to create important discussions about food waste, utilization of waste, urban farming, and local and wild food among beer enthusiasts”, said Ant Brew representative, Kari Puttonen. “Working with the Lahti Green Capital has been great. We are constantly developing ways to utilize new ingredients in brewing, and are not afraid to think outside of the box,
“Our environment and circular economy are important for us, and we want to discuss these topics in interesting ways”, concluded Piispanen. “Together we can create solutions that are eco-friendly and represent sustainable consumption.”
