Coors Light Eliminates Plastic Rings Globally

(Credit: Molson Coors)

Coors Light has announced it will eliminate plastic rings from packaging globally and will become the largest beer brand in North America to do so. The company also announced a $85 million investment into sustainable packaging, enabling Coors Light to begin the transition to fully recyclable and sustainably sourced cardboard-wrap carriers later this year.

The investment will upgrade packaging machinery, which will also allow the company’s entire North American portfolio of brands to advance to cardboard wrap carriers by the end of 2025. In total, the move by Molson Coors will save 1.7 million pounds of plastic waste annually. In 2021, Molson Coors removed plastic rings across all major brands sold in the United Kingdom, including Coors and Carling, and transitioned to recyclable cardboard sleeves. Molson Coors in Canada moved to more sustainable plastic rings in 2021 as an initial step, and as part of today’s announcement commits to eliminate plastic rings entirely.

Coors Light will debut the new packaging at the “Plastic-Free Future Mart by Coors Light,” a super sustainable pop-up concept store in NYC in March. The “Plastic Free Future Mart by Coors Light” will model as inspiration and a vision for a world with no single-use plastics.

Molson Coors set sustainability goals in 2017 to shape the company and set new standards for the beer and beverage industry. The three main areas of focus are water, climate, and packaging. Last year, Coors Light and Ball Corporation announced an agreement to bring the infinitely recyclable Ball Aluminum Cup to guests at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

 The beer industry overall is working to become more sustainable. In November, Anchor Brewing, San Francisco’s oldest brewery, added an on-site water treatment plant to their operations that has the capacity to recycle up to 20 million gallons annually. And in August, Anheuser-Busch announced it would invest $64 million at its Los Angeles brewery to install new solar panels as well as emissions-reduction technology. With these upgrades, the brewery will have the largest solar installation of any brewery in the US, accounting for more than 10% of its total electricity use.