WILLIAM Grant & Sons is shifting production at three of its distilleries to ethanol for hand sanitiser to help the coronavirus effort.
The company famed for its Scotch is to supply about five million litres of ethanol over the next eight weeks for the production of hand sanitiser including in the US.
The company said that production of ethanol that conforms to World Health Organisation standards is now going ahead at its distilleries in Girvan, Tullamore in Ireland, and plans are being put in place to meet Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards at Tuthilltown in New York State.
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Girvan and Tullamore are producing ethanol to be supplied to a range of hand sanitiser manufacturers, while the smaller-scale Tuthilltown distillery will produce, package and distribute hand sanitiser to local health care providers.
William Grant & Sons will not keep any profit made through the work with the ethanol being supplied at the standard commercial rate and all profits will be ring-fenced and invested into future actions that help alleviate the spread and impact of the virus.
Simon Hunt, chief executive at William Grant & Sons, said: “Through this initiative, we can divert our technology and the skills of our people to contribute to the essential work of protecting people around the world from the impact of coronavirus.”
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