ALGAESYS - The People’s Choice winner of the Beanstalk PropaGATE Brewery Wastewater Challenge
ALGAESYS was fortunate enough to be selected as a finalist for the Beanstalk PropaGATE challenge, where we visited Spinifex, Gage Roads, White Lakes Brewing, Shelter Brewing and Little Creatures to understand the variety of challenges faced by craft brewers in Western Australia. ALGAESYS has been tried and tested in breweries, having completed an R&D project in Portugal at a large-scale brewery and we hope to be able to continue innovating in the food and beverage scene here in WA to improve sustainability outcomes.
Visiting the diverse range of breweries and seeing the challenges they face from high BOD, TSS & temperature effluent attracting costly effluent discharge fees from Watercorp to high N & P levels (combined with seasonal rainfall) limiting the ability to disperse wastewater on land as regulated by DWER, combined with the understandable desire of the master brewers to be spending their time and energy on their love of producing beer rather than treating water was truly eye-opening. Our exposure before this was limited to large-scale breweries in Europe, where the volumes of beer being produced and thus the value of resource recovery very easy to justify treatment rather than disposal. We now know what is needed to produce an ideal solution for craft brewers that focuses on our core values of sustainability through resource recovery – potentially generating an additional income stream for the brewers while helping them reduce their carbon footprint,
Along with competing within the PropaGATE challenge, we had the opportunity to present to a diverse audience including members of the brewing industry, DPIRD, DWER, and CSIRO. Our presentation to the forty or so attendees on the final night resulted in ALGAESYS being awarded the People's Choice Award – for which we are deeply grateful.
We congratulate Hydroleap who won the PropaGATE Trial Award and we look forward to seeing how the project unfolds in Spinifex. We believe collaboration between sustainable organisations to be key to success and we welcome the opportunity to work together with all of the finalists #Hydroleap, #Moleare and #Aqualys in the future!
This was the inaugural Beanstalk PropaGATE project and we are honored to have been a part of it. We believe initiatives like this are what can transform the face of industries to promote sustainable practices and better water management, which in turn improve business and environmental outcomes.
Finally, we’d like to offer a special thanks to Sean Symons at #whitelakesbrewing who spent a decent amount of time taking us through his operation, his existing wastewater treatment plant and even the new wastewater treatment for the stunning hospitality venue that he is currently building as well as explaining the journey he’s been on and sharing his plans for the future. Of all the visits, it was the most informative and interesting (from a purely wastewater perspective). They will be re-opening around January 2026 once renovations are complete – and I’d strongly recommend paying them a visit at 1441 Mandurah Road in Baldivis as it is sure to be awesome once the refurb is completed.
If you have a wastewater issue and are interested in hearing how ALGAESYS could help, get in touch today for an obligation-free assessment of how we could help.