Mainebiz

V O L . X X V I N O . V M A R C H 9 , 2 0 2 0 12 M A N U F A C T U R I N G A t Allagash Brewing Co. in Portland, founder Rob Tod speaks as enthusiastically about reducing waste as he does about product expansion at Maine's largest brewer. It's known for its Belgian-style ales. "I'm amazed as I look around here," he says at the bustling tasting room on a recent morning, "how many homes we have found for how many waste streams." Examples include collecting corks from spe- cialty bottles and shipping them to a company that turns them into yoga blocks and sandals, reusing all packing materials from peanuts to bubble wraps on outgoing shipments and donating stainless steel leftovers to a vocational tech program for welders. "Not only does it not get wasted, it's reused as an educational tool to train people to weld," Tod says. "And who knows, maybe some of those people will be welders here during a future installation." As Allagash presses on with its own sustainabil- ity efforts, it's pushing other companies to do the same through the "Waste to Wares" initiative led by the Manufacturers Association of Maine. With $23,000 in funding from the Maine Technology Institute and $4,000 from Allagash, the effort set out to assess where manufacturing waste that would otherwise end up in landfills could be recycled or repurposed. More than 20 manufacturers in sectors from electronics to boatbuilding partici- pated in a feasibility study completed in November. Besides Allagash and industry peers Bissell Brothers, Geary's and Rising Tide, participants included Auburn Manufacturing Co., of Mechanic Falls; Sabre Yachts, of Raymond; and Sterling Rope Co., of Biddeford. Carolyn Brodsky, president and founder of Biddeford-based Sterling Rope, says her company participated "because it makes me crazy that some of our stuff goes into landfill." While the company has always recycled paper and reused or recycled cardboard, Brodsky says she was hoping to find a home for "oddball stuff," like polyethylene steam tubes. "We can only use them once, and to recycle them, we would have to grind up," she explains. "e last time I inquired about that, the machine to F O C U S P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY MAINE MANUFACTURERS JOIN FORCES TO CUT WASTE B y r e N e e c O r D e S Rob Tod, left, founder of Allagash Brewing, and facilities manager Luke Truman, inside the brewery at 50 Industrial Way in Portland. Allagash, which sells more than 100,000 barrels of beer a year in 17 states plus the District of Columbia, is leading a cross- industry initiative to reduce and repurpose manufacturing waste in Maine.

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