The Ocean Cleanup barge is currently on its way to tackle the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but it never hurts to find ways to reduce plastic before it gets into the sea. In that vein, Danish beermaker Carlsberg has announced the Snap Pack, a simple alternative to plastic six-pack rings.
The Snap Pack concept sounds so basic it's a wonder nobody has tried it before – six-packs of Carlsberg cans will now just be glued together. Those small dollops of glue are designed to hold the cans in place as they travel from the brewery to your fridge, where they're easy to pull apart. The company says the new technique will cut plastic used in multipacks by around 76 percent.
The Snap Pack is just one point in Carlsberg's new sustainability program. The company is also switching to a new type of silver ink on its bottle labels to make them more recyclable, a new coating for refillable glass bottles that helps them be reused more times, and has developed new caps that remove oxygen to keep the beer fresher for longer.
While the move is a small one on the grand scheme of things, it's nice to see companies start to tackle environmental issues like this. It's a different approach to that taken a few years ago by Florida craft beer startup Saltwater Brewery, which developed an edible six-pack holder made from wheat and barley leftover from the brewing process.
Source: Carlsberg
