Budweiser Brewing Group, the UK arm of AB InBev, has announced that it will phase out single-use plastic rings from all its locally-produced beer ranges by the end of 2020.
The firm revealed that it is investing £6.3m on upgrading its production facilities in the UK to provide alternatives to single-use plastics, which includes recyclable paperboard, wraps and boxes.
Budweiser claims the move will eliminate a total of 850 tonnes of plastic each year from its operations. This total will include removing 250 tonnes of plastic rings previously used to hold packs of beer cans together and 600 tonnes of shrink film, normally used as tertiary packaging around trays used in the shipping of beer packs.
The brewer counts some of the UK’s biggest beer brands in its portfolio, including Stella Artois, Budweiser, Corona, Bud Light, Beck’s and Michelob ULTRA, and produces over 870 million cans per year. The group stated that removal of plastic rings from all its UK products, including the Stella Artois pint can four-pack, the nation’s biggest selling small pack format, will have a significant impact in reducing plastic from supermarket beer shelves.
Paula Lindenberg, 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. This announcement ensures that the UK’s favourite beers will soon come in recyclable paperboard packaging, so consumers can make even better choices each time they shop.”
Budweiser’s move follows in the footsteps of other drinks brands ditching plastics from multipacks. Last week, Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) pledged to end the use of shrink-wrapped plastic across all can multipacks it sells in the UK and the rest of Western Europe. And last year, Carlsberg unveiled its ‘Snap Pack’ system, where a multipack of cans are connected with small glue dots instead of plastic rings.
