Daily CSR
Daily CSR

Daily CSR
Daily news about corporate social responsibility, ethics and sustainability

AB InBev Replaces Plastic Rings In Packaging Of Canned Beer



10/29/2020

KeelClip awarded at “Pro Carton/ECMA European Carton Excellence Awards 2020”.


Dailycsr.com – 29 October 2020 – AB InBev has crossed another “circular” milestone in its packaging, whereby it revealed that the company has become entirely “plastic-ring free” in its “iconic beers” from “Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I”.
 
As a result, “Budweiser, Bud Light, Stella Artois and Beck’s” cans in the U.K. will come with an alternative “fully recyclable wraps and the KeelClip™”, the latter being an new technology of creating “lighter weight pack” from recyclable paperboard. While, AB InBev also informed:
“Along with decreasing our usage of plastic shrink wrap, we will be eliminating  850 tonnes of plastic waste, the equivalent weight of 67 double decker buses, every year”. 
 
With this change, the company will move closer towards its “2025 Sustainability Goal” which is to have 100% of its packaging either “returnable” or created mostly out of “recycled content”. The announcement to “go plastic-free” was made by the Budweiser Brewing Group UK&Iin September 2019. In order to achieve the same, the company invested “£6.3 million into packaging infrastructure” in the breweries of Lancashire and South Wales and reached its goal within a period of thirteen months.
 
In the words of the president of Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I, Paula Lindenberg:
“We couldn’t have predicted the events of this year, but we were determined to not let this hinder our sustainability progress. It’s why I’m so proud that we’ve met our target of removing plastic-rings and shrink wrap from all our canned beers. Thanks to the hard work of our teams, there will be no plastic-rings on any canned beer that leaves our breweries in the UK from today.”
 
The journey to achieve the packaging goal involved upgrading “three canning lines” in the breweries producing “a combined 4,000+ cans per minute”, whereby preparing them to produce plastic-rings alternatives like KeelClip.
 
In fact, KeelClip has recently received “two awards at the prestigious Pro Carton/ECMA European Carton Excellence Awards 2020”. While the director of “Innovation and Technology” at Ab InBev, Europe, Michaela Miedl added:
“We are delighted that this forward-thinking innovation, launched in collaboration with Graphic Packaging, has been recognized at this level by Pro Carton, ECMA and the public. KeelClip is a perfect example of premium innovation that supports sustainability and improves the consumer experience.”
 
 
 
References:
3blmedia.com