Heineken: 100% Circular

The Challenge

Heineken Netherlands faced a rapidly changing landscape. Customer demands for responsible products were increasing. Dutch and European legislation was cracking down on single-use plastics and non-renewable packaging. Heineken aimed to gain an edge by leading this movement, positively impacting society and strengthening their own resilience.

The '100% Circular' program was the response: a commitment to transform the entire value chain. This was not about optimizing one process. Heineken needed a complete roadmap for circularity across policies, practices, and sustainability targets, from raw material sourcing and water usage to energy systems, packaging, distribution logistics, and waste recovery.

Applying SiD

In 2018, a multi-disciplinary team of 17 members from Heineken Nederland, Heineken Nederland Supply, and Except's sustainability and circularity experts joined forces. Together, across an intense three-day session, they kickstarted the 100% Circular program using Except's SiD framework.

Thinking systemically helped the team align goals, explore innovations, redesign internal governance, and develop a new roadmap. The SiD process focused on where Heineken could reduce negative impacts and increase positive ones, connecting energy, materials, water, waste, and biodiversity into an integrated picture rather than treating each as a separate initiative.

System Mapping

The system mapping phase documented every major operational stream: water usage across brewing and cleaning, energy consumption in production and climate control, packaging materials from glass and aluminum to cardboard and plastics, distribution logistics from warehouse to retail, and organic waste streams from spent grain to yeast.

This comprehensive mapping revealed where closed-loop systems could replace linear take-make-dispose patterns. It highlighted unexpected connections between seemingly separate areas: spent grain connects to animal feed markets, composting systems, and biogas potential. These synergies would not have been visible through conventional sustainability auditing, but SiD's systems lens made them structurally apparent.

Outcomes

The program produced a complete roadmap prioritizing actions and focus areas, addressing policies and practices, and identifying sustainability targets beyond material goals to be met by 2030. Heineken also set out to transition to 100% renewable energy, producing positive impacts on waste and water, initiating climate positivity, and increasing biodiversity.

For the next year after the initial sessions, detailed tasks were aligned across the company to build out the complete roadmap. The program sparked more than a dozen innovative sub-projects that Except partnered with or led, including resolving festival-related environmental challenges around single-use plastic cups, bottles, and promotional materials.

The resulting roadmap serves as Heineken Nederland's strategic instrument for long-term sustainability transformation, connecting all aspects of operations in a single framework while aiming to improve people's connectivity, inspiration, health, and well-being alongside environmental goals.

Key SiD Methods Used

• System Mapping of operational resource flows
• ELSI framework for comprehensive goal-setting
• Circular economy analysis and closed-loop design
• Stakeholder co-creation with 17-member team
• Strategic roadmapping