Friday 14 January 2022

Corona owner brews sustainable beer can rings with $4m investment

Grupo Modelo, owner of beer brands including Corona, Modelo and Pacifico, is investing $4 million (£2.9m) in the development of sustainable can packaging rings.

The beer brewing company has joined forces with WestRock and Grupo Gondi to transition to sustainable, fibre-based CanCollar eco solution in Quintana Roo, a Mexican state on the Yucatan Peninsula.

The innovative packaging is expected to help eliminate the use of plastic rings on cans sold in Quintana Roo, cutting 100 tons of plastic waste and avoiding 335 tons of packaging waste every year.

The WestRock CanCollar Eco packaging uses a paperboard clip to hold the upper part of the cans, unlike a cardboard box that completely covers the product, supporting the goal of removing around 12 million plastic rings per year from the market.

Soqui Calderon, Regional Director of Sustainability for Grupo Modelo said: “At Grupo Modelo, we are continuing to evaluate various alternatives for plastic rings in the packaging of beer cans.

“This is how we discovered CanCollar Eco, a new solution developed by WestRock and produced in Mexico by Grupo Gondi. Made from recyclable paperboard, this innovative packaging uses the least amount of material required to hold and to keep our beer cans secure through the supply chain.”