Heineken UK is eliminating plastic rings and shrink wrapping from its entire portfolio of beer and cider multi-pack cans, removing 517 tonnes of plastic annually from the supply chain – the equivalent of 94 million plastic bags a year.

Part of a £22 million investment, Heineken has announced a scalable innovation to replace plastic rings – a 100% plastic-free topper for multi-packs that uses sustainably sourced cardboard.

The new packaging was designed to not only remove plastic, but to minimise use of materials and reduce waste. The cardboard topper is 100% recyclable and compostable and importantly for shoppers, is robust and easy to grip.

This innovation will be rolled out across Heineken, Foster’s and Kronenbourg 1664 multi-pack cans and made available in UK retailers from April 2020. This will be followed by all Heineken brands in multi-pack cans, including Strongbow, Bulmer’s and John Smith’s by the end of 2021.

Cindy Tervoort, UK Marketing Director, Heineken, said: “The effect single-use plastic is having on our planet can’t be ignored. Creating an eco-friendly solution that eliminates plastic while still meeting the demands of our beer and cider drinkers has been a big focus in our business. Now, after years in development and huge investment, we’re extremely pleased to announce our recyclable and compostable topper innovation, a significant milestone in our journey to eliminate all single-use plastic.”

The £22 million investment will be split between Heineken’s Manchester, Tadcaster and Hereford sites, with the technology piloted at the Manchester brewery before the end of the year. The company already sells over half of its beers and ciders on draught in pubs around the country through refillable kegs that can be used for up to 30 years.

The pledge to eliminate plastic rings from the UK is the latest commitment in Heineken’s ambitious ‘Brewing a Better World’ strategy which challenges the company to innovate in a sustainable way. During the past three years, Heineken UK has employed several creative approaches to deliver this goal, including ‘light-weighting’ glass bottles and aluminium cans, trialling deposit return schemes at festivals to encourage recycling and decreasing CO2 by 68% since 2008 through investments in new technology.

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Sarah de-Salis, Group Account Director and Corporate Communications at Finn Communications shares how brands should start sharing their sustainable efforts to meet the demands of consumers.

Unilever kicked off the month by announcing that it will halve the use of new plastics in their packaging by 2025, and help to collect and process more plastic packaging that it sells over the same period. Unsurprisingly, against a backdrop of Extinction Rebellion protests around the world, this has gained real traction in the media – but it’s also a really good example of a company standing up to be counted on an issue that matters to so many people.

It’s particularly interesting that the Unilever’s chief executive, Alan Jope, calls out that they’re “not against plastic”. It’s a significant point that sometimes gets glossed over. Like a number of other companies, Unilever can’t just ditch plastic – their brands rely on it to provide consumers with accessible, quality products. However, their additional commitments show that, as the third-largest consumer goods company in the world, they recognise that they need to find new ways to reduce their plastic use, and put their support behind a wider movement around a national, standardised recycling infrastructure to make change stick.

When it comes to issues like this, brands and businesses need to show that they are doing something. It’s when companies don’t share what they’re doing, or the action they’re taking behind the scenes, that they can find themselves under a glare of scrutiny. Greenpeace’s recent campaign against Sainsbury’s “silence” on “serious action to reduce plastic” is perhaps a good example of this. While actions will always speak louder than words, it’s crucial to take people on the journey with you and find ways to share moments of progress along the way.

Unilever isn’t immune to scrutiny, of course. Some campaigners argue that they need to be “more ambitious” by reducing overall plastic by 50%, not just new plastic. But they’ve made sure that their colleagues, customers, consumers and stakeholders know that they have a plan, they’re making it happen, and they will do more. They can’t be accused of doing nothing – and that’s powerful in a society looking for action to be taken.

If you want to find out how Finn communications can help you, then get in touch with sarah.desalis@finncomms.com

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Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and Virgin Pure have launched purified water refill stations in Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City, in a move to encourage the 77m shoppers who use the centres each year to move away from single-use plastic.

Visitors will be able to sample the brand’s popular table-top WaterBars and stay hydrated whilst they shop the January sales and enjoy their time spent in Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s London centres. One refill station has been permanently installed in each destination, with plans to introduce another four by the end of 2019.

In-centre media screens will help direct people to the stations, where signage welcomes visitors and passers-by to ‘Refill Here’ with unlimited, perfectly chilled, pure water at the touch of a button. Virgin Pure’s WaterBars remove bacteria, chemicals and toxins, reducing chlorine by 99%, while retaining essential minerals like calcium and magnesium. The result is great tasting and refreshing water, ideal to keep hydration levels up whilst at home or out and about.

Paul Buttigieg, Director of Commercial Partnerships, Shopping Centre Management, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, said: “We’re hugely excited to launch these water refill stations in association with Virgin Pure at both Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City. This is a brand partnership that will help our visitors stay hydrated during a busy time of year, and in an environmentally friendly way, while showcasing Virgin Pure WaterBars to a high footfall audience.”

Virgin Pure previously had a kiosk at Westfield London, allowing visitors to sample pure water and discover a new way to drink water at home. The WaterBars offer unlimited, chilled and boiling pure water on tap and include smart features such as energy saving sleep and wake-up modes, auto fill levels and precise temperature controls.

Tom Stazicker CEO, Virgin Pure, added: “Virgin Pure water always tastes crisp, clean and refreshing, which is why 90% of our customers tell us they drink more water once they have a WaterBar installed. We’re looking forward to keeping shoppers at Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City hydrated, while reducing plastic bottle waste.”

As part of the commercial partnership, Virgin Pure’s WaterBars have also been installed in Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s UK offices at each centre for company employees.

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Kate Moss, Harry Kane, Cara Delevingne, Sienna Miller, Rita Ora, HRH Princess Eugenie of York, Fearne Cotton, Ronnie Wood, Will Poulter and Bob Geldof have joined forces with Sky Ocean Rescue and ocean conservation movement Project 0 to launch a reusable limited-edition product range to inspire people to #PassOnPlastic.

All proceeds from the range will go to initiatives protecting ocean health, including Sky Ocean Rescue’s partnership with WWF-UK, which funds marine protection areas covering 400,000km² of our oceans.

Each artwork was created with a bespoke ocean-related design for the new Pass On Plastic range, which includes a reusable water bottle, a coffee cup, a tote bag, an on-the-go cutlery set and a three-piece beeswax wrap set – an alternative to cling film.

The products offer reusable versions of the five most common single-use plastic items currently contributing to the quarter of a tonne of plastic entering our oceans every second. New research by Sky Ocean Rescue worryingly reveals the UK consumes 10.7bn single-use plastic bags, 14.1bn drinks bottles, more than 4bn hot drink cups, 1.5bn throwaway cutlery sets and 12.2bn single-use lunch packages in a single year. The Pass On Plastic range provides alternatives to these products, helping everyone make simple everyday changes to stop our oceans from drowning in plastic.

Entrepreneur and artist Fearne Cotton said: “I was so honoured to be asked to create a design for this exceptional range of reusable products that help people pass on plastic to protect the ocean from being the unhappy recipient of ridiculous amounts of this indestructible material. I was inspired to draw my squid by an image that exploded on the internet this year of a seahorse grasping an ear bud.  How impactful could we be if we stopped to think about the unintended consequences of these simple everyday actions that have real long-term consequences – often with devastating effects? It’s my sincere hope that this range of products will inspire people to reduce their plastic footprint now. And, after all, it’s a lot more stylish to be single-use plastic free!”

All the products have been produced and packaged to minimise impact on the environment. Suppliers were carefully selected for their ethical and environmental standards and practices, sharing the values of the Sky Ocean Rescue campaign.

The range will be available to purchase from Wednesday 7 November at Sky.com/POP and at the Pass On Plastic pop-up shop at 20 Beak Street, Soho, London from Thursday 8 November for two months, while stock lasts.

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