Marston’s lightweighting saves almost 2,000 tonnes of glass

The brewer, whose brands include Pedigree, Old Empire and Burton Bitter, has worked with supplier O-I to reduce the weight of its bottles by an average of around 75g.

The reduction is the second stage of a lightweighting that began last year. The first took around 800 tonnes a year out of Marston’s bottle weight.

Justin Way, take-home category manager for the brewer, told Packaging News that, overall, the initiative would reduce the weight of glass used in the bottles from around 9,625 tonnes a year to around 7,800 tonnes a year.

The company produces around 25 million bottles of ale every year across its brands. Weights for the four brands have dropped by an average of just under 75g, including:

• Jennings/Ringway has reduced in weight from 377g to 300g;
• Wychwood has reduced from 385g to 320g;
• Brakspear has reduced from 405g to 330g;
• Marston’s has reduced from 380g to 300g.

No changes to filling lines were required to implement the changes, and all work on the lightweighting was done by O-I and Marston’s.

Way added: “[We] are proud to further reduce our impact on the environment and provide an example for other brands to follow.”

Nicola Jenkin, beverages category manager at Wrap, added: “Wrap welcomes this significant development in packaging minimisation by one of the ale industry’s premium brands.”

“We hope other ale brands will continue to build on this good work which is particularly pertinent in the current economic and environmental climate.”