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Danish brewer Carlsberg’s latest packaging innovation is almost invisible, and that’s exactly the point.
Gone are the days of plastic wrap, rings or caps holding together multi-packs of beer. Instead, the cans in Carlsberg’s new Snap Packs are held together by glue.
“You can’t actually see the packaging. It’s almost not there, and that is what is extremely exciting from a sustainability perspective,” said Simon Boas Hoffmeyer, head of sustainability at Carlsberg, in an interview with The Guardian.
The Snap Packs, which will debut in the United Kingdom, were three years in the making. The hardest part of the development process? Making glue dots strong enough to keep the packs together during shipping and on store shelves, while easy enough for consumers to break when they want a single can.
Carlsberg estimates the switch to glued cans will reduce plastic waste by 1,200 metric tons (1,323 tons) a year – the equivalent of 60 million plastic bags.
The World Wildlife Foundation has already given its support to the new packaging design. Said Bo Øksnebjerg, Secretary General in WWF Denmark:
Our wildlife is drowning in plastic – and the problem is unfortunately growing considerable. We therefore need to act now. 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. With these new solutions, Carlsberg has taken the first big steps on the journey toward a more clean and green future.To celebrate the release of the new Snap Packs, Carlsberg recruited one of Denmark’s biggest celebrities – The Little Mermaid. Earlier this month, Carlsberg debuted a replica of Copenhagen’s famous Little Mermaid statue. Only this version was made with, you guessed it, glued-together Snap Pack cans. The rising “tide” on the statue is made of 302 lbs. (137 kg) of plastic, representing the amount of plastic eliminated every hour by the absence of plastic on the new Carlsberg multipacks.
The Snap Pack is not the first green packaging initiative from Carlsberg. In September 2016, the brewing company unveiled designs for its Green Fiber Bottle, made from sustainably sourced wood fiber.
Carlsberg’s shift is among other eco-friendly packaging innovations that have been brewing across the international beer industry in recent years:
Megan is a writer and editor interested in sharing stories of positive change and resilience. She is the author of Show Up and Bring Coffee, a book highlighting how to support friends who are parents of disabled children. You can follow her at JoyfulBraveAwesome.com.