Drinks industry calls time on CO2

We drink around 30 billion litres of beer every year in Western Europe. According to the Rexam ‘Beverage Radar’, only 8 billion litres of this is draught consumption, meaning that the rest is sold in packaging. The beer industry has been forced to address the environmental impact of the production, transport and disposal of these bottles and cans.

There have been significant steps forward in this area, but there is still much debate about the best packaging for beer, how to make that packaging as eco-friendly as possible, and how to achieve this without affecting the quality of the packaging, the brand, or the beer itself.

In Western Europe, glass remains the most popular packaging for beer. Around 16 billion of those 30 billion litres are sold in glass packaging. So glass has been the primary focus of efforts to reduce the environmental impact of beer packaging.

David Workman, director general of British Glass, says: “Significant weight reductions have been achieved by new narrow-neck press and blow technology. It produces a more even glass distribution, which means that lightweight bottles are often stronger than traditional heavier ones. It has required huge investment, but it has produced enormous benefits.”
However, many manufacturers have been concerned about lightstrike – the effect of light on the beer inside the bottle.

With a thinner bottle, would more light enter and damage the drink? Research by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap) has shown that, while there is some impact on lightweight green bottles, the clear and amber versions are just as effective at protecting the beer from light.

There is also the impact on the brand to consider. Do beer drinkers expect a heavy bottle with a solid feel? Chris Barber, creative director at brand consultancy Dragon Rouge says: “Grolsch has reduced its bottle weight by 13%, and replaced its paper label with more defined glass embossing. This invites tactile engagement and in this way Grolsch has enhanced the consumer experience of its brand while also improving environmental performance.”

Carrying the can
Despite all the efforts of the glass manufacturers, metal can makers argue that their material is the most environmentally friendly packaging for beer. John Revess, marketing director for Rexam Beverage Cans Europe, says: “Metal is endlessly recyclable without any loss of quality, and it is already an extremely lightweight material. Our industry has been working hard through the Every Can Counts campaign to increase recycling rates in the UK and France, and we have been making steady improvements in the weight of our cans.”

Ball Packaging, another metal packaging firm, estimates that, due to improvements in recycling rates, it is now able to produce around three times as many cans with the same quantity of primary material as it could 30 years ago.

Wrap, Coca-Cola and Beverage Can Makers Europe produced research showing the weight of current aluminium beer cans could be reduced by 5%. Roll-out of these lighter cans has already begun and will cut aluminium use by the EU can industry by almost 15,000 tonnes a year. This equates to 88,000 tonnes of CO2, or the equivalent of taking 28,000 cars off the road each year.

In late 2008, Luc Desoutter, sustainability officer at Sidel, which makes machinery for the packaging industry, led a study, in conjunction with Martens Brewery into the environmental performance of different beer packaging.

He says: “The results of the life-cycle assessment showed steel cans and PET bottles contribute least to global warming and air acidification. The production of steel cans uses the least primary energy and water, while glass is the highest consumer.” The study also found that if the weight of a 0.5-litre PET bottle could be at or below 20g, PET potentially has the lowest environmental impact.

So does this mean that we can expect to be drinking more beer out of plastic bottles in the near future? In Eastern Europe, the use of plastic for beer packaging has soared in the past decade. The issue is not only that plastic-packed drinks can lose carbonation too rapidly, or that the taste of the drink can be affected, but that western Europeans prefer to drink from glass and cans. For now, at least.

BETTER BOTTLES
Wrap’s GlassRite Beer, Cider and Spirits project has helped more than 60 lagers, ales and ciders convert to lighter glass bottles. Carlsberg UK worked with Ardagh Glass to cut its 275ml bottle weight by 17%, saving 8,400 tonnes of glass and cutting more than 5,700 tonnes of CO2 every year. Hall & Woodhouse worked with O-I to develop a lighter bottle for its Badger ales, cutting weight by 27%, saving 1,500 tonnes of glass and cutting 1,100 tonnes of CO2. Cobra Beer communi-cations manager Adam Barriball says: “In 2005, Wells and Young’s, one of our contract brewing partners in the UK, lightweighted our 330ml bottle. This produced glass savings of more than 200 tonnes. We then did the same to the 660ml bottle in 2007, reducing its weight by 21%, and so using 700 tonnes less glass. We cut our CO2 by more than 450 tonnes.”

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