POINTPLASTICS IN BREWING

Casks are generally made of stainless steel, which is durable and can be reused for decades, but represents a high capital investment. A number of craft brewers use plastic casks, which are not so durable but give good service and the plastic from broken casks can be recycled.

Ease

Recently a manufacturer of plastic shives and keystones is working on a programme to collect and recycle the fittings, saving cost and resources.

Kegs are also made from stainless steel and designed to be able to withstand pressure. They are durable but costly to buy and replace if lost or stolen. Most plastic kegs are used for single trips, they are lighter and a useful alternative for package smaller volumes or for export where the container are not returned.

Petainer manufactures a single use PET lightweight plastic kegs suitable for handling carbonated beer and when totally recycled is reported having 30% lower carbon footprint than the equivalent stainless-steel keg, requiring less cleaning, lighter weight, and delivery only. It is the responsibility of the customers to recycle the container and the manufacturer reported a recycling rate of 19% in 2019.

KeyKeg is a double walled keg system with a multilayer bag for beverage protection. All KeyKegs sold in the UK are produced in County Durham which reduces the overall co2 emissions in the production process. KeyKeg uses a range of different plastics in their production process which contain a minimum of 50% recycled materials, used KeyKegs can then be recycled when returned to one of their active collection hubs. To recycle KeyKeg it is sorted, grinded, washed to regenerate the monomer materials. There are very few independent surveys comparing real life cycle of cradle to grave performance between stainless steel and plastic kegs.

Greenhouse gas emissions comparing stainless steel with plastic kegs in different scenarios. Results are shown in kg CO2-e per litre kegged beer. The study was conducted in a Swedish brewery, and it was assumed that the stainless-steel kegs made 80 trips before being recycled. The single trip plastic kegs were made in the Netherlands and in the first example went to the local recycling for incineration and in the second example was sent back to the Netherlands where it was stripped down for recycling.

Plastic is not the problem. It is how we use it and how we dispose of it. Plastic will continue to play a vital role in protecting and keeping food and drink fresh. It is now up to society to find a responsible way of using, processing, and disposing of it.

Unnecessary plastic should be removed. Breweries have actively removed plastics from secondary and tertiary packaging. If plastic packaging is required, choose the right plastic for the application with recycling in mind. Choose from suitable alternative natural materials made from paper (cellulose) and seaweed.

➢Improve recycling performance. The biggest difficulty is returning the plastic for recycling and having the appropriate facilities to recycle the plastic and return to the manufacturer.

➢Some companies such as Key Keg have set up recycling centres and are actively trying to encourage users to return their used containers.

➢A lot of plastic finds its way to municipal recycling centres and the average performance of recycling plastic is pitiful.

Figure 1: Michael Martin, Sjoerd Herlaar, Aiden Jönsson & David Lazarevic “From Circular to Linear?” Assessing the Life Cycle Environmental and Economic Sustainability of Steel and Plastic Beer

Kegs, Circular Economy and Sustainability volume 2, 2022, pages 937–960