Carlsberg Trials Eco-Friendly Beer Bottles
Carlsberg, one of the world’s largest beer producers, is trialling eco-friendly bottles made from wood pulp. The bio-based material is called PLA and is derived from plants. The bottles, which are fully biodegradable, have been designed to reduce the environmental impact of packaging and have a lower carbon footprint in production. Carlsberg says that if the trial is successful, the bottles could be rolled out across its entire product range.
Rather than going to a plastic alternative, the new bottles are made from a wood-based fibre shell and a plant-based polyethylene furanoate polymer lining. They’re 100% renewable and recyclable, and they’ll help Carlsberg cut its carbon footprint by 30%.
It’s not just the environment that will benefit from this innovation. The new bottles will also be lighter than traditional glass bottles, so they’ll use less energy to transport. And because they’re made from plant-based materials, they’ll be completely biodegradable.
We can all raise a glass to that!
The Danish company announced that it will be conducting a trial run of its new “Green Fiber Bottle” with 500,000 customers in selected cities in Europe.
The Green Fiber Bottle is made from sustainably sourced wood fiber and is fully recyclable. It retains the same taste and fizziness as glass bottles or aluminum cans, but has a significantly smaller environmental footprint. Also, traditional glass or aluminum bottles don’t insulate well and beer can get warm quickly. However, the new bottles have much better insulation value, keeping beer colder for longer. Not only is this more enjoyable for you, but it’s also better for the environment since less energy is needed to keep the beer cold.
“We believe that the Green Fiber Bottle has the potential to redefine on-the-go drinking,” said Myriam Ummelen, Carlsberg’s Group Director of Sustainability. “It offers a genuinely sustainable solution for portable beer packaging, and we’re excited to be bringing it to market.”
The trial run will help Carlsberg gather feedback from consumers and fine-tune the bottle before it is rolled out on a larger scale. If all goes well, the Green Fiber Bottle could eventually replace all of Carlsberg’s plastic and aluminum packaging.
While Carlsberg is one of the first companies to trial eco-friendly beer bottles, the company is also using barley malt cultivated using fully organic and regenerative agricultural practices. This is a great step forward for the company in terms of sustainability as it supports the organic food growers at scale, which is needed to mainstream organic agriculture. We hope to see more companies following suit.
Carlsberg is also trialling an alternative fibre-based cap for the bottles. This cap is made from a material called PHA, which is derived from plants. The PHA caps are also 100% recyclable and although they are not ready for current production, the company says they will be in place next year.
Overall, Carlsberg’s trial of eco-friendly beer bottles is a positive step toward reducing the company’s environmental impact. If the European trial is successful, the bottles will be rolled out to other markets, making Carlsberg’s products more sustainable at a far larger scale.
So next time you’re grabbing a beer on the go, make sure it’s in a Carlsberg Green Fiber Bottle!
