The firm says this first step in the its commitment to replace plastic wrap on all can multipacks in its European Union markets will save more than 3,000 metric tons of CO2 and 2,000 metric tons of plastic each year.
This new “Grip&Go” packaging is the result of a €15 million ($17,734,800) investment by the company in a strategic partnership with Graphic Packaging International and forms part of a wider commitment by Coca-Cola HBC and its partner The Coca-Cola Company to build a more sustainable approach to packaging. The roll out across all the company’s EU markets plus Switzerland will be complete by early 2022.
KeelClip is a unique paperboard design that not only replaces plastic rings, top clips, and shrink wrap multipacks for cans; it also offers merchandising benefits that similar beverage packaging does not. The concept combines an efficient paperboard lid that covers the tops of the cans. A paperboard flap attached underneath the center of the lid slips in between the two rows of cans. This flap provides stability to the pack in much the same way that the keel provides stability to a ship. KeelClip works with the widest range of cans and multi-count configurations and at the speeds required by large beverage operations, allowing brand owners to present a premium and sustainable image with a billboard for branding and can orientation.
“By investing in this innovative new technology we are directly supporting our customers and their consumers by providing a more sustainable packaging format,” says Marcel Martin, Group Supply Chain Director at Coca-Cola HBC. “At the same time, we are delivering on our commitment to make a more positive environmental impact.”
