Company
Kansas City features prominently on many travel shows, more for its famous barbecue, than anything else. Calvin Trillin, likely the first “foodie,” in the modern sense, once called legendary KC BBQ joint Arthur Bryant’s ”…possibly the single best restaurant in the world.” In addition to BBQ, though, KC has a strong brewing tradition. The Muehlebach Brewing Company, established in 1868 by Swiss transplant George Muehlebach, became one of the city’s longest running breweries, keeping its doors open from 1869 until 1956 when it was bought out by Schlitz. Boulevard Brewing Company* has since revived that brewing tradition. Initially started in 1989 as a small 6,000 barrel brewhouse, Boulevard has since grown into the 12th largest craft brewery in the country by volume (the largest in the Midwest), and is distributed throughout the US. In addition to increasing its capacity and distribution, Boulevard has been working on ways to reduce its impact on the environment, and has become a thought leader among Kansas City industries seeking to increase their sustainability programming.
Ripple Glass
As with many of the breweries featured in Revolutionary Spirits, Boulevard undertakes a number of sustainability initiatives, from using packaging material made from 100% recycled paper, to developing an on-site water treatment system. Boulevard even have a green roof on its brewhouse and package facility that helps regulate the temperature inside the building, thus reducing energy usage. Boulevard’s biggest addition to its community, however, is its development of Ripple Glass, a glass recycling company. Although many cities in the U.S. have standardized recycling, there are some that have not, and for whatever reason, Kansas City has developed a recycling program that does not recycle glass. Naturally, this led to the disposal of 150 about million pounds of glass into local landfills. Boulevard Brewing Company understood the need for someone to fill that niche, so with the support of local companies and community organizations, it devised a solution: Ripple Glass. Ripple Glass constructed a state-of-the-art processing plant, and placed dedicated glass recycling containers throughout the Kansas City metro area. Glass collected at the containers is then sorted, cleaned, crushed and reused into a number of products, including fiberglass insulation. Amber colored glass is even turned back into Boulevard beer bottles. Ripple’s facility is now processing glass from all over the region, and is beginning to spread to towns as far away as Jefferson City, Missouri and, soon, Branson, Missouri. Check out the interesting video on Boulevard’s website.