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Sustainability | ||
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Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess | ||
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THE CAN V BOTTLE DEBATE ... How do you (sustainably) drink your beer?
We’re now crowdfunding to launch our British planet saving beer in cans. This is a response to quickly changing customer preference and our determination to make sure our beer has the most positive impact on the planet possible. Read on to find out more. The can revALEution In 2018, cans made up 25% of all craft beer sales in the UK. And according to Imbibe, 72% of all packaged beer is expected to be canned this year, compared to just 16% in 2016. Whilst cans may once have had a bad rep, breweries are shifting to canning and craft beer cans are taking over retail shelves. Does canned beer taste better? There’s nothing like fresh draught beer from your local pub or a brewery tap room (or currently the Waitrose Unpacked trial in Oxford). But for those times when you don’t have access to beer on tap and packaging is needed, there are logical arguments pointing to aluminium cans being the best option to preserve the quality of the beer. Cans block out all UV light, massively reducing the likelihood of ‘skunked’ beer (where the flavour of the beer changes slightly). Glass allows light in, which breaks down certain hop compounds and alters the flavour of the beer – turning your tropical IPA into something far more temperate. The dark brown glass we use does a good job of blocking out a lot of UV rays, but cans are the ultimate winner. Cans also stop oxygen getting in as they’re completely airtight. The bottling process sometimes lets oxygen in, which can result in over-oxidation, making for a beer with overtones of cardboard (not our favourite flavour). Some drinkers notice a metallic taste from cans, and granted, if you’re sipping straight from the can, the metal will touch your lips. But the interior of aluminium drinks cans are lined with a water-based polymer that prevents contact with the metal. Pouring into a glass will ensure the taste isn’t interfered with from either the can or bottle. It’s also the best way to explore the colour and aroma of the beer. After also, we taste with our eyes and noses too! What’s the environmental case? Well, there’s some pretty strong arguments both ways… Life cycle analysis of beer identifies packaging as a key contributor to environmental impact (measured in Global Warming Potential): 42% for aluminium cans and 55% for glass bottles. Other impacts include water use and disposal, the raw ingredients chosen (namely whether malts and hops are organic and locally sourced) and the emissions from freight. As we contract brew, the main impact that we have control over is the packaging (and our partners at Wold Top do a fantastic job of managing the other impacts). So we’ve looked at each stage of the life of packaging to compare aluminium cans and glass bottles, and picked our winners. 1. Materials When thinking about the benefits of different packaging, it’s easy to skip forward to how recyclable the material is. But let’s start at the beginning with how we get the virgin materials. Aluminium cans start life as the mineral bauxite. Mining bauxite requires heavy mining which destroys habitats, contaminates water supplies and contributes to soil erosion. The process also causes dust to be released, adding to air pollution. After extraction, a lot of energy is required to refine the bauxite, adding to aluminium’s environmental footprint. Like aluminium, glass is also made from natural resources (silica, sand and limestone) which have to be quarried. Iron, sulfur and carbon is added to make the glass brown. These ingredients are naturally abundant. A significant amount of energy is required to power furnaces to produce glass, but it’s still simpler and less energy-intensive to produce. Aluminium requiring around 15x more energy. For virgin materials, bottles win. For both glass and aluminium, it’s important to maximise the amount of recycled content to minimise the demand for virgin materials. Producing new aluminium cans is incredibly energy intensive. But, making a can out of recycled aluminium requires only 8% of the energy consumed by producing new aluminium. So maximising the recycled content of packaging can have a hugely positive impact. As circular materials, bottles and cans are both winners if the recycled content is high. 2. Transportation Transportation includes moving empty and filled containers from manufacturer to brewery, brewery to retailer, retailer to customer and drinker to the end of life waste treatment (hopefully reuse or recycling rather than landfill). All of the packaging is produced relatively locally. Our glass bottles, made by Ardagh Group just 60 miles from our brewery partner. Our canning partner produces the cans in Braunstone (Leicester) An individual glass 330ml bottle weighs about 200g compared to 11g for 330ml aluminium cans. We are looking at whether we can reduce the weight of our bottles (the lightest known being 135g). But bottles can break and require additional packaging to protect them in transit, adding to their weight. And lighter bottles may be even more prone to breakage. Cans can be packed in more tightly thanks to the size and shape. According to the Aluminium Association, the space efficiency and reduced packaging weight of cans allows 35% lower emissions than glass bottles on a per ounce basis. For transportation, cans win. 3. Storage Energy and resource use for storing beer are also important to consider. As our beer is sterilised, it can be stored at ambient room temperatures and only needs refrigerating before serving. Significantly, the space efficiency of cans allows more to be stacked onto shelves and fridges, and reduces the energy needed to cool cans before drinking. For storage, cans win. 4. Recycling Because it’s so energy intensive and environmentally degrading to extract virgin materials, we want to use recycled materials as much as possible. Glass bottles can be melted down to make new packaging indefinitely, with no loss of quality. Aluminium can also be recycled again and again, without losing its material characteristics. Both are great circular materials. In the UK, approximately 72% of aluminium cans are recycled and 67.7% of glass is recycled. This varies due to different rules on household recycling across the country, and changes in our behaviour at different times. This variability and other market conditions means that the recycled content of cans and bottles fluctuates For recycling, both cans and bottles are winners. The verdict Drinkers should be able to choose the most sustainably brewed beer in the packaging that best suits them. We want to give people more ways to fight food waste and do their bit for the planet. The most environmentally friendly way to enjoy a beer is to bypass packaging completely and drink beer fresh on draught. For packaged beer, aluminium cans and glass bottles both have their positives, and whilst we haven’t yet completed a full lifecycle analysis, cans are edging ahead*. As Toast is already available in kegs and bottles, we’re crowdfunding for the first canning of our planet saving beer. And we’re offering beery rewards – it’s like pre-buying beer, or pre-investing in the planet. CAN you help us hit our target? Pledge your support and scoop up rewards at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/craft-beer-can to show craft beer CAN fight food waste. * Once we have set up operations in cans, we’ll complete a full lifecycle analysis to share
by James King in About
| 17 JUN 2019 Posted at 15:14h The text being discussed is available at | https://www.toastale.com/the-can-v-bottle-debate/ and |