Carlsberg Ditches Plastic Wrapping for Snapping Six-Pack Design

(Photo: Carlsberg’s new Snap Pack. Credit: Carlsberg)

by | Sep 13, 2018

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Carlsberg

(Photo: Carlsberg’s new Snap Pack. Credit: Carlsberg)

Carlsberg is replacing plastic wrapping for six packs with a new design called the Snap Pack that glues cans together. The Copenhagen-based brewery expects that this beer industry first will reduce the amount of plastic used in traditional multi-packs by as much as 76%.

Snap Pack works by attaching cans using an adhesive rather than plastic rings, slashing plastic waste globally by more than 1,200 metric tons a year. The packaging design took three years to develop, according to Carlsberg.

The plastic rings long used to hold together multi-packs of canned drinks pose risks to wildlife and have been linked to increased ocean pollution, CNN Money’s James Masters reported.

At the same time, Carlsberg announced a new partnership with Plastic Change https://plasticchange.org/, a Danish environmental organization working to raise awareness of plastic pollution. The global brewing company also has a longstanding relationship with the World Wildlife Foundation.

“Our wildlife is drowning in plastic — and the problem is unfortunately growing considerably,” Bo Øksnebjerg, the secretary general of WWF Denmark said. “We need less plastic to end up in nature. That is why we consider it huge progress that Carlsberg is now launching solutions that significantly reduce the amount of plastic in its packaging.”

In addition to the Snap Pack, Carlsberg is switching to Cradle-to-Cradle Certified silver inks on bottle labels to improve recyclability, using a new coating on refillable glass bottles to extend their lifespan, and adding new caps that remove oxygen to make beer taste fresher longer. Previously the brewer announced a goal of reducing water usage at its breweries by 50% by 2030.

The Snap Pack debuted in the United Kingdom this week at a number of Tesco supermarkets, and will appear in other European markets beginning later this month, Masters reported. The packaging is expected to become available in Carlsberg’s home market starting early next year.

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