With pouch packaging and PET increasingly popular within the beverage industry – and the retail industry in general – one cannot help but wonder: are glass and aluminum on their way out? The answer is no. Despite the growing presence of pouch packaging and PET bottles in the beverage aisle, industry experts agree that glass and aluminum beverage packaging formats still have plenty going for them – and it has much to do with their incredible sustainability.
Surely, glass is completely recyclable. But isn’t glass packaging less sustainable than PET and aluminum packaging because it is heavier to transport? Not quite. “Glass bottle weight has been reduced by about 40 percent over the past 30 years,” Elizabeth continues. “What’s more”, she argues, “a complete lifecycle assessment by Owens-Illinois found that transportation of finished products accounts for less than 5 percent of a packaging material’s total carbon footprint.”
There’s something about glass beverage packaging
As we already mentioned in a previous article, consumers clearly have a heart for glass. Some are fond of glass bottles simply because they are used to them, others because they perceive it as one of the most sustainable packaging materials out there. “When you look at the complete lifecycle of a package, from raw material extraction to recycling or end-of-life disposal, the average glass bottle has a carbon footprint that is lower than or on par with comparable aluminum and PET containers”, says Elizabeth Peery, Marketing Communications Manager at Owens-Illinois, a leading glass bottle manufacturer.Surprisingly sustainable
