Budweiser Brewing Company APAC has initiated a packaging process using the lightest aluminum cans available for beer production in China. This initiative has been carried out by the largest brewery on the Asian continent.
The multinational company held a successful meeting at its brewery located in Putian, Fujian province in China. The forum discussed Bud APAC’s approach to circular packaging, focusing on the concept of “reduce-reuse-recycle-recycle-recover” to move towards a lower carbon economy. The main objective was to find innovative solutions to improve beer packaging in China, especially focusing on cans and glass as the main materials.
The Putian local government, in collaboration with brewing and sustainability experts and industry associations, organized a forum to discuss best practices for sustainable recycling and packaging. The objective was to find solutions to the current shortage of resources, improve the reuse of packaging materials and eliminate waste.
In its commitment to achieving the 2025 Sustainability Goals and achieving zero net emissions by 2040, Bud APAC has developed innovative circular packaging solutions. These solutions include packaging design, post-consumer recovery, public education and awareness. During a forum, Bud APAC presented its lightest beer can in China, weighing only 9.57 g for a 330 ml can. This represents a 4% reduction compared to the industry average. In addition, the average carbon footprint per can is only 185 g, which is almost 100 g lighter than in the base year of 2017. Thanks to the use of Bud APAC’s aluminum packaging, more than 40,000 tons of carbon emissions have been reduced compared to the previous base year through continuous efforts. This is equivalent to a 30% reduction.
Bud APAC is actively working on finding solutions for the recycling of aluminum cans of the same grade. One such solution is Can-to-Can recycling, a form of closed-loop recycling that leverages technological innovation and collaboration with industry partners. They are also promoting initiatives to reduce carbon emissions among their suppliers, such as the use of solar energy in production and the adoption of the RTO system to manufacture environmentally friendly and energy-efficient aluminum cans.
Jan Clysner, Bud APAC’s Vice President of Sustainability and Procurement, stated that “as the region’s largest brewer, we are fully committed to enhancing our efforts in promoting circularity to mitigate our impact on the climate and the environment, while empowering our value chain partners to reduce their carbon emissions. Only by working together can we realize our ambition of achieving zero net emissions across our value chain by 2040.”
More than 60% of Bud APAC’s total packaging volume consisted of returnable packaging or packaging made primarily from recycled materials, while more than 50% of its primary packaging was made from recycled content.
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