AB InBev produces “world’s lightest beer bottle” through carbon-cutting glass innovation

11 Jun 2021 --- AB InBev is unveiling what it claims to be the world’s lightest longneck glass beer bottle for commercial production. 

The multinational drink and brewing company successfully reduced the weight of its standard longneck beer bottle from 180 to 150 g, cutting CO2 emissions by an estimated 17 percent per bottle.

“Reducing weight was the critical factor in cutting the carbon footprint of our bottles, but doing so while also retaining the strength of the bottles was a big challenge,” Frederik De Graaf, global director, packaging technology development at AB InBev, tells PackagingInsights.

“We overcame this through a combination of state-of-the-art converting equipment (developed in collaboration with our partners), new glass coatings, new glass mold coatings to strengthen the glass, and state-of-the-art filling equipment.”

AB InBev owns several leading beer brands, including Budweiser, Stella Artois, Corona, Beck’s and Leffe.

The company indicates its packaging constitutes on average 50 percent of its product carbon footprint, making solutions like this lightweight bottle integral to its sustainability goals, including a 25 percent reduction in CO2 emissions across its value chain by 2025.

“Game-changing” glass innovation
The “world-first” bottle was developed at the brewer’s Global Innovation and Technology R&D Centre, GITEC in Leuven, Belgium. The R&D process combined innovative technologies to deliver a lighter bottle while maintaining safety and beer quality.

“Lightweighting our bottles has been a priority for many years at AB InBev, and this new, lighter bottle is an important environmental and technological breakthrough, allowing us to decrease the carbon footprint of the glass bottle,” reiterates De Graaf.

“This success is the fruit of intensive collaboration with our external glass partners, having shared knowledge and worked together on new glass coatings, new glass mold coatings and state-of-the-art converting to strengthen the glass.”AB InBev’s new longneck beer bottle is 30 g lighter than the previous solution and cuts CO2 emissions by 17%.

Extensive testing
De Graaf explains the project faced considerable challenges, as quality and safety are “non-negotiables” while all new packaging solutions undergo extensive testing before market launch.

“When reducing the weight of the bottle, we were faced with strength challenges – beer is, of course, a carbonated drink, and inside pressure can build up due to the gas expanding under certain heat conditions,” he says.

“We also needed to be mindful of the speed of our filling lines inducing high impact forces on the bottles. Ultimately, a combination of state-of-the-art equipment, skilled operators and process improvements helped us to achieve this innovation.” 

Market launch
AB InBev is now exploring how to roll out the new bottle, initially on the European market in “one-way bottles.”

In markets where the brewer is present with returnable bottles, the next challenge for the GITEC team of scientists will be to develop technologies to lightweight these bottles further while maintaining the durability to survive many cycles.

Returnable bottles have a lower environmental footprint due to the bottles being reused several times.

AB InBev is committed to making 100 percent of its products in packaging returnable or from majority recycled content by 2025.

In related news, Gerresheimer and 18 other glass producers are participating in the Furnace for the Future European joint project with the ambition of producing climate-neutral glass.

Meanwhile, Diageo recently revealed its involvement in a successful pilot project to pioneer the lowest carbon footprint glass bottles “ever produced” for a Scotch whisky brand.

By Joshua Poole