The Pivovarna Laško Union has made sustainable packaging an important pillar of its strategy. The steps regarding company’s shift to greener packaging solutions are taken by increasing the proportion of recycled plastics across its packaging and by reducing the amount of paper on the bottles of Laško and Union, the main beer brands of the Slovenian Pivovarna Laško Union.

To reduce the environmental impact of its brands, the Pivovarna Laško Union has focused on several important areas across its value chain in 2019 and 2020. It looked at:

  • Optimising the weight of all plastic materials
  • Finding sustainable packaging material alternatives
  • Increasing the recyclability of packaging materials
  • Increasing the content of recycled plastics (rPET) as an alternative to virgin material (PET)

For example, Pivovarna Laško Union has been exploring ways to replace consumer plastics, incl. shrink film, with more sustainable packaging solutions which include a greater proportion of recycled plastics.

To reduce its use of virgin plastic film, Pivovarna Laško Union, in collaboration with its suppliers, has carried out several pilot tests using samples of shrink film that contained different percentages of recycled plastic. As a result, the Slovenian brewer determined that it could replace its original virgin plastic packaging with a more durable packaging solution, containing 30% rPET. This initiative will allow Pivovarna Laško Union to reduce its consumption of virgin plastics by 45 tonnes per year, representing a reduction in the CO2 footprint of its packaging material of 22.5 kg of CO2 per year.

SUSTAINABLE LABELLING ON BEER BOTTLES

In 2020, Pivovarna Laško Union has taken another step in its sustainable packaging strategy by removing the back-side label from its bottles for its main brands, Laško and Union. This move will reduce virgin paper material by 27 tonnes per year, representing a reduction  in carbon footprint of around 50 tonnes of CO2 per year.

HEINEKEN Press Office: pressoffice@heineken.com