Lighter beer bottles lessen environmental impact

l New look lightweight Adnams bottles

January 25, 2007: We're all trying to lose some weight in January — and Adnams has succeeded, unveiling what it says is the lightest 500ml bottle in the ale category.

Coming in at less than 300g the bespoke Adnams bottle was originally designed in 2003. However, the heavy base used a substantial amount of glass per bottle and weighed a hefty 455g — the redesign gives a 34% reduction in glass usage.

For the past few years Adnams has been looking at ways to reduce its impact on the environment. Its award-winning distribution centre has been built to an extremely high environmental specification and the new brewery coming on-line this spring will dramatically increase energy efficiency.

In addition to these major capital investments, Adnams has teamed up with the University of East Anglia’s carbon reduction team to further reduce its carbon footprint across the business. And one of the recommendations made by their Environmental Action Group was to reduce the weight of the Adnams 500ml beer bottle.

The recent Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has challenged supermarkets and suppliers to address the issue of packaging and make reductions where possible. Adnams has been working with Cookchick Design and O-I packaging specialists throughout last year to find the most environmentally-efficient packaging solution for its bottled beers.

Marketing manager Ed Hume, who led the project, said: "Adnams is committed to sustainable business and we are always looking for ways to improve our business practice.

"The environmental and cost savings of the new bottle are significant. Using a lighter weight bottle will not only lessen the use of glass, but will also result in fewer carbon emissions from the manufacturing process which will, in turn, mean lower fuel usage due to lighter transportation.

"Coincidentally, the manufacture of these bottles has moved from Scotland to Harlow, so the number of miles getting them to our bottling plant has also been considerably reduced.

"The bottles offer the same deep brown colour and display a distinctive 'Beer from the Coast' embossing around the base.”

Paul McLavin, UK sales and marketing manager for O-I, said: “We are now in discussion with WRAP to see whether they will adopt this weight as the new ‘best in class’ for 500ml ale bottles. Given the supermarkets’ well-publicised commitment to reduce packaging waste, Adnams’ initiative could act as a significant step change in the industry.”

The new bottles will be available in stores of all the major multiples at the end of January.