Ring removal: Budweiser Brewing Group’s new “Keel Clip” technology leads to elimination of plastic rings

24 Sep 2019 --- In a significant bid to reduce plastic pollution, Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I (Budweiser Brewing Group) has sealed a £6.3 million (US$7.8 million) investment in new technology, allowing it to eliminate plastic rings from can packaging across its entire UK-produced beer range by the end of 2020. The removal of plastic rings from all Budweiser Brewing Group’s 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.

“We are always considering new and interesting packaging solutions but are happy with the recyclable paperboard solution we are introducing including our new Keel Clip technology,” a spokesperson from Budweiser Brewing Group tells PackagingInsights. 

Bud Light 4-pack Keel Clip.The new Keel Clip technology uses recyclable paperboard to create a lighter weight pack, as well as wraps and boxes. It’s touted as being capable of producing up to 2,000 cans per minute in a recyclable paperboard “clip”. As the company produces almost 17 million cans per week, the primary technical challenge was to find a technology solution with appropriate scale, says the company spokesperson. 

Budweiser Brewing Group will be reconfiguring its entire canning production lines in its main breweries. By introducing this new machinery and expanding overall paperboard packaging capacity, the company aims to ensure all plastic rings are eliminated.

“This announcement ensures that the UK’s favorite beers will soon come in recyclable paperboard packaging, so consumers can make even better choices each time they shop. 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,” Paula Lindenberg, President of Budweiser Brewing Group states. 

Besides innovating its packaging, Budweiser Brewing Group is also moving toward brewing its biggest beer brands with 100 percent locally-sourced barley and 100 percent renewable electricity from solar power, Lindenberg announces. 

Other affected beer brands under the AB InBev umbrella include Budweiser, Corona, Bud Light, Beck’s and Michelob ULTRA, which altogether produce over 870 million cans annually. 

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:Beck’s 4-pack Keel Clip.

• Agriculture: It aims to skill, connect and financially empower 100 percent of its direct farmers. Moreover, it plans to brew its beer using 100 percent British-grown barley.
• Climate action: The company is set to source 100 percent of its purchased electricity from renewable sources and have a 25 percent reduction in CO2 emissions across its value chain. This year, trucks from its Lancashire, UK, brewery are beginning deliveries powered by liquified natural gas.
• Water usage: 100 percent of the company’s communities in high-stress areas are planned to have improved water availability and quality
• Packaging: The company aims to package 100 percent of its products in returnable or majority-recycled content materials. 

Several other big-name companies are also ditching plastic for paper packaging. One of the leaders in this space is Corona, the first global beer brand to trial 100 percent plastic-free six-pack rings. This move came as a response to the brand’s commitment with Parley for the Oceans to lead the industry with eco-friendly packaging.

The brand also tinkered with packaging alternatives this summer by creating a prototype solution to the 17 million tons of plastic generated by beverage packaging each year – a screwable, stackable can. The Corona Fit Packs have screw threads at the top and bottom of each can, allowing up to ten cans to be stacked on top of each other with a simple twist and no additional materials.

Coca-Cola European Partners will remove plastic shrink-wrap across all multipack cans sold in the UK and transition to cardboard over the next 18 months. More than 30 million packs sold to consumers each year will no longer be wrapped in plastic, the company says. 

In a £16 million (US$21 million) move, plastic ring carriers and shrink wrap have been removed from multipacks of Diageo’s Guinness, Harp and Smithwick’s beers. In its place came 100 percent recyclable and biodegradable cardboard packaging, with a recycled content level of 15 percent. The new packs were stacked on Irish shelves from August in the UK and all other export markets from summer 2020.

By Anni Schleicher