By Mabinty M. Kamara
The Sierra Leone Brewery Limited (SLBL) has admitted that wastes from its production facility pose health risk to nearby communities and hopes to minimize this risk after what it says is a 2.2 Million Euros investment it has made in the area over the last year.
The management of the leading brewer of alcoholic drinks in the country is also looking forward to limiting environmental hazards caused by used bottles of its products through maintaining its bottle recycling programme.
SLBL is situated in Wellington in the east end of Freetown where it also has its factory that produces drinks.
“Because we operate in Sierra Leone, and we do believe in Sierra Leone and the people of Sierra Leone, we have invested a lot in the country and the community in which we operate,” said Mr Wily Ngana, Managing Director of (SLBL).
Established in 1962, the company is jointly owned by foreign businesses and individual Sierra Leoneans. The Netherlands-based Heineken has the largest share, over 80%. Guinness has about 11% shares, Paterson Zochonis 3%, and local Sierra Leoneans 2.24%. SLBL is the producer of Star Lager beer, Heineken Lager, Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, Mützig Lager, its latest addition, and its only alcohol-free drink, Maltina.
The brewer last week organized a conducted tour for members of the press to showcase the products of their investment in the form of machineries. Its management also wanted to demonstrate to the press the processes its products undergo in order to produce quality products that match the international standard of Heineken.
Journalists were taken to the laboratory where products are tested before production, and then to the refrigeration plant where manufactured products are preserved, and finally to the packaging room.
"We get our raw materials from approved suppliers and it passes through thorough processes to meet the international standards of Heineken," said John Richardson, Supply Chain Manager of the company, during the tour.
But it is the effect of the company`s activities on the environment that appears to attract the most attention in the Wellington community. People in the neighborhood of the brewery factory are particularly unhappy with the manner in which its wastes are disposed off.
“The odor of this water running through the gutter as you can see and the mud over there is so offensive that we find it very difficult to stay around here in the dry season,” Aminata, a resident, told Politico. She said they tend to cope a little during the raining season when running water in the gutters often drains the waste away.
The community people think the company doesn’t care about their concerns.
But Richardson told journalists that they were aware of the situation and assured that 2016 would be a different situation.
SLBL’s Corporate Relation Officer, Aminata Kasim Carew, said the company does request for its empty bottles in order to keep the environment clean and safe. She noted that most of the bottles and cans that are imported into the country are not returnable and as such they are seen thrown all around the place. These bottles, she said, serve as weapon for criminals.
“But it is very difficult to see our brand being used for such purpose,” Ms Carew said.
(C) Politico Online 24/12/15
