Carlsberg bottles are taking on a new look in the Australian market as part of a global roll-out of packaging innovations.
With more and more consumers around the globe looking to businesses and brands to play a critical role in reducing packaging waste and improving their environmental footprint, Carlsberg is implementing a variety of new initiatives to move towards sustainability.
In December, all Carlsberg Pilsner 330ml bottles sold in Australia will feature distinctive new labelling that use Cradle to Cradle™ certified inks that improve recyclability. Cradle to Cradle Certified™ is a globally recognised measure of safer, more sustainable products made for the circular economy.
Carlsberg bottles will also feature new Zer02 oxygen scavenging bottle caps that remove oxygen from the head space in the bottles, reducing flavour oxidation and thereby resulting in a fresher tasting beer, for longer.
These innovations represent some of the first consumer-facing manifestations of Carlsberg’s sustainability program, Together Towards ZERO, which includes ambitions of a ZERO carbon footprint and ZERO water waste.
They were applied on the flagship Carlsberg brand in Europe last year and are now rolling out in Australia.
Carlsberg is distributed in Australia by Coopers.
“Carlsberg is working hard to deliver on an ambitious sustainability agenda,” said Cam Pearce, Marketing and Innovation Director of Coopers.
“We see it as a journey to help consumers to live more sustainable lives by introducing a range of packaging innovations which is also moving quality to an even higher level. We are proud that Coopers and our Australian consumers are now part of that important journey,”
These packaging updates are just the start of a number of world-first upgrades Carlsberg is making to its products that will be rolled out in Australia over the next month.
The new look bottles are expected to be available in liquor outlets across Australia from December 2019.
Brewer reveals sustainable paper Carlsberg bottles
Carlsberg also revealed last month that it is working on two paper beer bottle prototypes that are recyclable and made from sustainably-sourced wood fibre.
The two research prototypes for its Green Fibre Bottle have an inner barrier to allow them to contain beer.
One version is lined with a thin film of recycled PET plastic polymer film, the other uses a bio-based lining. Carlsberg is now progressing to testing the barrier technology.
Myriam Shingleton, vice president group for development at Carlsberg Group, said she was pleased with the progress made so far on the paper Carlsberg bottle prototypes.
“While we are not completely there yet, the two prototypes are an important step towards realising our ultimate ambition of bringing this breakthrough to market,” she said.
Shingleton added that paper Carlsberg bottles are better for the environment than aluminum or glass because they are sourced in a sustainable way, and because the material has a “very low impact on production process”.
“The energy and efficiency of the technology that we’re using” reduce carbon emissions compared to other production processes, she said.
The company hopes to eventually create a 100% bio-based bottle without polymers, an aim which forms part of Carlsberg’s wider sustainability goals to achieve zero carbon emissions at its breweries and a 30% cut in its full value chain CO2 footprint by 2030 against a 2015 baseline.
