Coors Light will eliminate plastic rings from its packaging this year, making it the largest US beer brand to ditch the six-pack packaging. The low-cal beer’s parent company, Molson Coors Beverage Company, announced it’s investing $85 million to help transition to recyclable cardboard carriers.
Marcelo Pascoa, Coors vice president of marketing, said Tuesday the switchover will save 200 tons of single-use plastic from landfill each year.
In addition to their contribution to plastic pollution, the hard-to-tear rings have been known to kill turtles and other marine animals that either get stuck in them or accidentally ingest them.
Following the lead of Heineken, Carlsberg and Guinness, Molson Coors nixed plastic rings in the United Kingdom last year. The company says it plans to ditch them worldwide in all its brands — which include Miller, Foster’s Keystone and Redd’s — by the end of 2025.
That will eliminate a reported 1.7 million pounds of single-use plastic a year.
To get the word out, Coors Light opened a «Plastic-Free Future Mart» in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Made from brewery scraps and other recyclable materials, the pop-up concept store is fashioned like an old-school newsstand, showcasing the new cardboard carriers, as well as mock-ups of products like Coors Light cereal and pancake mix and a fictional Rocky Mountain News newspaper.
Coors launched the recyclable aluminum can back in 1959, when other beverage makers were still using tin.
The retro mini-mart, which pays homage to that history, will remain open until March 6.
