Crisp Malt, based in Great Ryburgh near Fakenham, has been recognised for the environmental impact of its Return-a-Bag programme, which recycles used polypropylene and polyethylene sacks from brewers and distillers.
The company says more than 5,000kg of plastic malt sacks have already been diverted from landfill and recycled into products such as garden furniture and playground flooring.
The scheme won the Innovation Award from RMI, which delivers insights into brewing, distilling and malting supply chains across the world.
Ellie Wood, sustainability manager at Crisp Malt, said: “There were over 50 entries to the awards, with some fantastic initiatives from across the malting industry, so it was a real honour for our scheme to have been selected as a winner.
“Return-a-Bag solves a problem for brewers and distillers that has been a long-standing challenge for decades. The award will raise awareness of the scheme and get more brewers and distillers on board with it. That will add to the waste-savings.
“The equivalent of over 60,000 25kg malt bags have so far been returned for processing and repurposing. The cumulative impact over time will be massive.”
The scheme accepts empty bags from all malt suppliers, not just from Crisp – an “industry inclusive” approach which the company believes was a factor in swaying the award judges.
An RMI spokesman said it is “inspiring to see such impactful initiatives shaping a more sustainable, innovative, and collaborative future for the industry”.
Crisp says there is “full traceability of waste volumes received and processed”, so breweries and distilleries can use the information in their annual reporting.
The only cost to Crisp’s customers is transportation to the waste aggregation facility near Swindon.
According to global environmental organisation WRAP, just 10pc of the 142 million tonnes of plastic packaging produced each year is effectively recycled, with the remainder sent to landfill, incinerated or leaked directly into the environment.