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Clear thinking chooses cans for 'brain' drink
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May 9: The creator of a ‘think drink’ chose cans because they are recycled more than other packs.
Brain Toniq is said to be the world’s first organic, plant-based, non-caffeinated drink that improves mental clarity.
Marketing company TrueToniqs chose to package the drink in 25cl cans manufactured by Ball Corporation at its Wallkill, New York, plant because of the range of benefits offered by metal packaging, explains its owner Scott Ohlgren:
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Treasured cans captured by pirate drink brand
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May 9: Why are pirates so popular at the moment? They just ‘arrrr’.
It was the popularity of drinks in ‘big cans’, however, that inspired US-based Polar Beverages to introduce its pirate-based Black Jack brand of teas and beverages in 16oz (47.5cl) cans.
“Two trends drove the introduction of the Black Jack brand: the popularity of flavoured teas and the popularity of ‘big can’ beverages,” said Gerry Martin, vice president of marketing at Polar Beverages.
Then came the challenge of differentiating the brand from the rest of the market, for which the company employed Crown’s recently-introduced high quality print technology.
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Pilot Fusion bottle line officially opened
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May 8: Another step in Rexam’s plan to produce lightweight aluminium bottles for the European drinks industry in commercial volumes was taken yesterday when a pilot production line was officially started in the UK.
Rexam’s beverage can chief for Europe Tomas Sjolin switched on the bottle finishing line at the company’s Tongwell R&D centre, part of which has been rebranded to show off the bottle’s potential to buyers and designers in the beer and beverage sector.
The premium sector of the 70 billion bottled drinks market in Europe is being targeted for by the Fusion project, the manufacturing process for which has been developed over the past three years. Rexam, the world’s biggest producer of drinks cans, has a parallel project in the US for making high-volume bottles similar to those made in Japan.
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Deposit “an expensive way to cut carbon emissions”
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May 7: Germany’s deposit system for one-way packaging is one of the most expensive ways of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, has failed to curb litter, and cut the purchasing power of consumers. The impact on Germany’s economy has been about 1 billion euros.
Introduced in 2003, the so-called ‘can tax’ also failed to improve the market share of refillable drinks, its primary objective, says a study by Prognos.
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US drinks can recycling push by Pepsi
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May 3: Beverage can recycling has received another boost from a high-profile drinks company with PepsiCo planning to introduce promotional recycling information on more than seven billion cans by the end of the year.
The campaign is called ‘Have we met before?’ and will involve information on topics such as the energy saving potential of can recycling, and the environmental performance of cans, being displayed on 500m cans of Pepsi and 250m cans of Diet Pepsi every month in the US.
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Cans meet demands for environmental friendliness
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May 2: Cans have a strong environmental message that could be better communicated to consumers by improved labelling, says a report.
A survey has revealed that two-thirds of consumers are concerned with the environmental impact of groceries, but want clearer information on packaging that shows each product’s ‘green’ credentials.
In the ‘Basket of Goods’ survey, conducted by research company ICM on behalf of the Metal Packaging Manufacturers Association (MPMA), it was revealed that cans are in a strong position to meet specific consumer demands relating to environmental-friendliness.
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Beverage end stock boost for Novelis
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May 2: Novelis will boost its capacity for making coated aluminium stock for beverage can ends in Germany as part of a 17.2m-euro ($11m) investment.
The investment is at its plant at Nachterstedt, Germany and comes as a response to growing demand for beverage ends in central and eastern Europe.
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India’s Essar to buy Wheeling Pittsburgh tin mill
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May 1: India’s third largest steel maker, Essar, has agreed to acquire US steel producer and distributor Esmark in a deal valued at US$1.1 billion.
Esmark owns the Wheeling Pittsburgh mill with a steel capacity of 2.4 million tonnes a year, of which some 200,000 tonnes are tin mill products.
President of Essar Americas, Madhu Vuppuluri, said: “Essar is very excited about the potential merger with a great company located in the steel capital of the United States. We plan to make significant investments into Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel to make it a low cost, technologically advanced steel producer.”
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Environmental power of the can applauded
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May 1: The environmental benefits of beverage cans have been hailed by the leading US recycling body following news that aluminium rolled products specialist Novelis recycled almost 36 billion drinks cans in 2007.
Kate Krebs, executive director of the National Recycling Coalition (NRC), said: “There is no limit to the number of times an aluminum container can be recycled, making it one of the most successful examples of sustainable packaging.”
And around 23bn beverage cans were sourced from North America by Novelis, accounting for around 45 percent of all those recycled in the market.
“Don’t underestimate the environmental power of the can,” said Martha Finn Brooks, chief operating officer at Novelis.
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Silgan continues to streamline food can operations
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April 30: Leading US food can manufacturer Silgan will close its canmaking plant at Tarrant, Alabama as part of its push to streamline operations. It is part of a strategy that has already paid off with better-than-expected first-quarter results.
Net sales of the company’s food can business increased by 1.6 percent year-on-year to $351.2m due primarily to higher selling prices. Profits in the sector fell by 13 percent to $25.1m, but margins held at 7.1 percent.
Chief executive Tony Allott said: “Our metal food container business exceeded our expectations due to effective cost management and strong manufacturing performance.”
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