CHINA – The Budweiser Brewing Company APAC has delivered a circular packaging forum for its value chain partners at Putian Brewery in Fujian Province, China.
The forum reinforces Bud APAC’s circular packaging approach of the “reduce-reuse-recycle-recover” concept for the low-carbon transition.
During the forum, Bud APAC launched its lightest aluminum beer can in China. The 330 mL can weigh 9.57g, which is 4% lighter than the industry average. The average carbon footprint per can is 185 g, which is nearly 100 g lighter than the 2017 baseline.
Bud APAC is also addressing the challenges of aluminum can same-grade recycling by introducing Can-to-Can recycling, a closed-loop solution for used beverage cans. This initiative capitalizes on technological innovation and collaboration with industry partners.
“As the largest brewer in the region, we are fully committed to enhancing our efforts in promoting circularity to mitigate our impact on the climate and environment, while empowering our value chain partners to reduce their carbon emissions,” says Jan Clysner, Vice President of Sustainability & Procurement at Bud APAC.
The forum explores best practices in recycling and packaging to address the challenges of resource scarcity, enhance the circularity of packaging materials, and reduce waste. The event is supported by the Putian local government, brewing and environmental sustainability experts, and industry associations.
The forum promotes innovative solutions for the Chinese beer sector, specifically focusing on aluminum cans and glass bottles.
Bud APAC’s aluminum packaging has helped reduce more than 40,000 metric tons of carbon emissions compared to the 2017 baseline. This achievement is a result of continuous efforts, with carbon emissions per can reduced by over 30%.
Bud APAC has actively promoted carbon reduction transformation among its upstream partners through various initiatives.
This includes encouraging aluminum can suppliers to utilize solar energy in production, recycle and reuse waste heat, and adopt the Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer system. These efforts aim to manufacture environmentally friendly and energy-efficient green aluminum cans.
For circular packaging, the pillars of the company’s 2025 Sustainability Goals and 2040 Net Zero Ambition are to develop unique solutions for packaging design, post-consumer recovery, and public education and awareness building.
“Only through working together can we realize our ambition of achieving net zero across our value chain by 2040,” explains Clysner.
Some notable achievements in the company’s circular packaging efforts in 2022 include the following: 63.2% of Bud APAC’s total packaging volume was comprised of returnable packaging or made from a majority of recycled materials, and 51.3% of its primary packaging was made from recycled content.
