From plastic-free LEGO deliveries to paper Coca-Cola bottles, sustainable packaging is gaining popularity as a way to enjoy environmentally-friendly versions of our favorite products. The latest company to adopt greener packaging is Corona, which is rolling out biodegradable six-pack holders made from barley waste created in the beer-making process.
Barley malt is a key ingredient in Corona beer, so manufacturers end up with barley straw as a byproduct once they extract the barley seed. The new packaging takes this straw, turns it into pulp, and combines it with recycled wood fibers to create a durable and biodegradable paper sleeve for their six-packs. According to Corona, the process uses 90 percent less water than traditional packaging.
The new packaging is being rolled out in Columbia this month and is expected to expand to Argentina later this year. If all goes well, the packaging will be adopted across all of AB InBev brands, Corona’s parent company, including Budweiser and Modelo. According to the company, the new packaging is a “path forward to eliminate the need for virgin trees and raw material from their supply chain in the future.”
Corona is the latest beer brand to adopt more sustainable practices, but certainly not the first. Earlier this year we wrote about Karbon, a Canadian brewery which not only uses sustainable packaging but will also be Canada’s first carbon-negative brewery.
Image source: Beverage Daily
