Plantable beer mats introduced across St Austell Brewery’s pubs

Sat in a St Austell Brewery pub next week? The cardboard square under your pint might end up in your garden.

The Cornish brewer is rolling out biodegradable, seed embedded beer mats across its South West pub estate, designed to be planted after use. Each one carries a QR code linking to the company’s latest impact report, letting drinkers scroll through sustainability progress without putting their pint down.

The launch follows the brewery’s first sustainability strategy, Crafting a Brighter Future, introduced last year.

A Small Idea With a Bigger Point

Emily Coon, Sustainability Manager at St Austell Brewery, said the pubs were the obvious place to start the conversation.

“We’re proud of the progress we’re making across our business, but for us this has always been about bringing people with us on the journey. Our pubs are where we connect with more people than anywhere else, so we wanted to create a simple and accessible way for guests to access our impact report and share the progress happening behind the scenes as well as our future ambitions,” Emily said.

“The plantable beer mats are a small idea, but they represent a bigger mindset, thinking differently about waste, creating moments for conversation, and making sustainability feel part of everyday experiences rather than something distant or abstract. We know meaningful change comes from much bigger actions than a beer mat alone, but if it encourages more people to engage with sustainability, and better understand the role businesses like ours can play in driving momentum, that feels like a positive step.”

A Year of Awards and Numbers

The past 12 months have been a notable run for the brewery. Last month it was named Best Sustainable Pub Company in the UK at the Publican Awards, and its pub waste reduction programme won Excellence in Waste Management at the Green Awards UK.

Across its 45 managed pubs, St Austell Brewery now runs on 100% renewable electricity. Total waste has dropped by 49% since 2023, general waste is down by up to 40% year on year, and recycling rates have doubled. All food waste is now diverted from general waste streams.

Water has been another focus. Waterless urinals fitted during recent pub refurbishments are saving up to 100,000 litres per pub each year, and engineering changes at the company’s two breweries in Cornwall and Warmley have cut water use in the production of Proper Job, Tribute and korev.

Local Suppliers and Local Causes

Food delivery miles have been cut by 33%, and the use of locally landed fish on pub menus is up 20%.

Alongside the environmental figures, the company raised more than £93,000 for charities and South West causes in 2025, with Children’s Hospice South West named Charity of the Year. Pub teams and colleagues have backed everything from beach cleans to a community defibrillator campaign.

The brewery has committed to reaching net zero ahead of the UK’s 2050 target, and will host its first Sustainability Week in 2026.

The plantable beer mats arrive on pub tables across the South West from next week. The full impact report is available at staus.tel/sustainability-impact-story.