Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I is investing £6.3 million in new technology that will allow it to eliminate plastic rings – a total of 850 tonnes of plastic each year, the equivalent weight of 425 black cabs, 67 double decker buses or 10 blue whales – from can packaging across its entire UK-produced beer range by the end of 2020.
This total will include removing 250 tonnes of plastic rings previously used to hold packs of beer cans together (comparable to 117 million plastic rings in total), and 600 tonnes of shrink film, normally used as tertiary packaging around trays used in the shipping of beer packs.
Paula Lindenberg, (pictured) President of Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I, said, “Protecting our natural resources and operating efficiently is crucial for our business, as well as the communities we live and work in. This is why we have spent the past decade investing in circular packaging initiatives around the world to close the loop and reduce waste. We’re proud of the work we’ve already done so far, but we realised more needed to be done to address the issue of single use plastics.”
In order to eliminate plastic rings from all packaging by the end of 2020, Budweiser Brewing Group will restructure and reconfigure production at its two main UK breweries in Magor, South Wales, and Samlesbury, Lancashire.
This £6.3million investment in the renovation and upgrades to three canning lines will produce alternatives to plastic, including Keel Clips™, a new technology which uses recyclable paperboard to create a lighter weight pack, as well as wraps and boxes.
This is the latest in a series of measures implemented by Budweiser Brewing Group as part of the brewer’s 2025 Sustainability Goals, focused on four integral areas of its business: