Coors Light announced Tuesday it is moving away from single-use plastic rings on its six packs to a more sustainable packaging option.
Molson Coors is making an $85 million investment to update its packaging machinery to produce “fully recyclable and sustainably sourced cardboard-wrap carriers” and will begin the transition later this year.
“Our business, and Coors in particular, has a long history of using packaging innovation to protect our environment, and today we are building on that rich legacy,” Molson Coors CEO Gavin Hattersley, said in a news release.
The company’s entire suite of brands in North America will make the switch by the end of 2025.
“We believe that buying beer shouldn’t mean buying plastic,” Marcelo Pascoa, Vice President of Marketing for the Coors Family of Brands, said in a news release.
“That’s why we’re taking a step toward making packaging even more sustainable, and with this achievement Coors Light will save 400,000 pounds of single-use plastic from becoming waste every year.”
Molson Coors, which says it’s the largest beer brand in North America to make the move, estimates the eco-friendly shift across its brands will save 1.7 million tons of plastic pollution annually.
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The International Union for Conservation estimates at least 14 million tons of plastic ends up in oceans each year, accounting for 80 percent of all marine debris.
A report released by the World Economic Forum in 2016 predicted that without changes, there will be more single use plastics by weight than fish in the oceans by 2050.
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