When most people hear the name of Anheuser-Busch, they think of Super Bowl commercials, the Budweiser Clydesdales and the company’s world famous beers. But there’s a lot more behind the historic brewing giant based in St. Louis. This year marks an important milestone for the employees of Anheuser-Busch and the recycling industry. The company’s recycling subsidiary, Anheuser-Busch Recycling Corporation, is celebrating its 30th year of operation. Since its inception in 1978, Anheuser-Busch Recycling has kept more than 460 billion aluminum beverage containers out of landfills across the United States. That’s enough cans to circle the globe more than 1300 times.

Since its founding in the mid 1800s, the brewer has looked for ways to improve the environment and communities around the country where it has business operations. It began with company founder Adolphus Busch, who recycled leftover grains from the brewing process for use as cattle feed. Today, the brewer’s 12 domestic breweries recycle more than 99 percent of the solid waste from their brewing and packaging processes. This is not only good for the environment, it’s good for business.

Anheuser-Busch Recycling’s dedicated team works closely with a network of 700 organizations around the U.S. to encourage recycling of used beverage containers. They implement numerous programs, from the company’s Recycle Challenge program, where schools earn money from recycled cans to purchase equipment, to beverage container collection at large venues and events, including in recent years the Daytona 500, Sturgis Bike Week and LPGA/PGA TOUR tournaments. In addition, the company operates a recycling center in Hayward, Calif., which processes both aluminum cans and plastic bottles.