THE ABSOLUT COMPANY: Saving the World -Cocktail by Cocktail

STOCKHOLM, Nov. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --The problem with bar waste is real. The bars in London alone produce 800 000 tons of waste every year. 'The Green Hustle' is a new initiative with the mission to reduce bars waste. The initiative aims to inspire bartenders to be more sustainable by teaching fun and simple "hustles" that they can instigate today.

"Very few consumers associate bars with sustainability, but I think we will soon see the awakening of a more responsible cocktail-era. And reducing waste is pretty simple. Turn disregarded fruit into stock, ditch the plastics, start composting – and join the movement", says Bex Almqvist, Co-creator of the Green Hustle and Global Marketing Manager On Trade at Absolut Vodka.

The conversation about food waste and sustainable practices in the restaurant has been prevalent for a while. Just recently, the movement has also slowly been making its way into the bar world, with bars such as Dandelyan (London), Honeycut (Los Angeles) and Trashtiki (pop-up) as forerunners. And the challenge with bar waste is real. The 800 000 yearly tons of bar waste in London only is more than the combined weight of the city's total population. One plastic straw takes 200 years to decompose and about 8,5 billion straws are wasted in the UK alone each year. There are 50 000 bars in the UK, 60 000 bars in the US and 260 000 in Spain - that is a lot of waste.

The Green Hustle is a new global bartender engagement platform initiated by former bartender Bex Almqvist together with the anti-waste bartender duo Trashtiki and bartender Hampus Thunholm from renowned restaurant Fäviken in Sweden. The Green Hustle aims to inspire and enable bartenders around the world to be more sustainable in the bar by showcasing ready-to-implement tools and benefits in a fun and inspiring way. The initiative currently lives online at www.thegreenhustle.com and in seminar format, but will soon expand into new channels. See next page for inspirational tips for reducing bar waste, some low-waste cocktail recipes and for a list of best practice-bars where you can have delicious cocktails without being wasteful. 

"The Green Hustle is all about inspiring bartenders to get involved in applying easy, ready to be implemented hacks in their bars, that in the end of the day is both beneficial to the environment, our industry and their bottom line. The program is created by bartenders for bartenders with the objective to instigate change. Sustainability is an overwhelming topic, we hope with the Green Hustle to make it less daunting and more accessible for everyone – the smallest act can make a big impact and you can have fun and be inventive along the way", says Bex Almqvist.

Sustainability has been a priority for Absolut Vodka from the start. Having one the most energy efficient distilleries in the world, they generate 96% less CO2 emissions per liter than the average distillery. Absolut is something rare in the world of vodkas, as it is a one source vodka. This is not only a quality guarantee, but a prerequisite for environmental work that results in complete control from seed to bottle.

Watch the film "The S-word" about Bex and her passion for sustainability here.

The Green Hustle lists...

7 ways to save the world - drink by drink

A few simple examples of what you can do in your bar today, these are tips that can be instantly instigated.

1. Turn disregarded fruit into stock: Citrus is the most common, and most wasted ingredient, and to bartenders what bones are to chefs. So get stewing and make some citrus stock.
2. Ditch the plastics: Forget plastic straws: use tasting spoons instead when taste testing and definitely don't use anything but compostable or recyclable straws in drinks!
3. Recycle: Recycle glass. Recycle paper. Recycle tin cans. Recycle everything you can get your hands on.
4. Refreeze/Melted ice: refreeze melted ice at the end of the night and use it the next day. It has already been filtered so the hard part is done for you.
5. Composting: But better than that, start getting your mind focused on composting, it's like the ultimate Green Hustle Level Up for any bar.
6. Put a lid on it: Put lids on your bins, and use landfill stickers and marine life stickers on your bins.
7. End single-use ingredients: Think of your ingredients as a whole and think of how many ways it can be used. Take a lemon for example, you can juice it, pickle it, peel it and use it as a garnish.

7 sustainable bars

• Dandelyan, London
• Cub, London
• Broken Shaker, Miami
• Native, Singapore
• Honeycut, Los Angeles
• Svartklubb by Fäviken, Åre
• TrashTiki, pop-up

6 low-waste cocktails: http://www.thegreenhustle.com/en/drinks/

Contact:

For more infortmaion, please contact:

Ulrika Lövdahl, Senior Manager Corporate Communications
Phone: +46-70-347-7187
Email: ulrika.lovdahl@pernod.ricard.com  

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