Miller Brewing Company Plastic Beer Bottle

In a recent partnership, Miller Brewing Company collaborated with materials developer Continental PET Technologies (CPT) to design a cutting-edge plastic beer bottle with recycling specifically in mind. The Miller plastic beer bottle is the first nationally distributed carbonated plastic beverage container of any significance to use post-consumer recycled material.

Miller's tradition of innovation and leadership in beer freshness and its strong record of environmental work led the company to develop the plastic beer bottle program. Working with CPT, Miller conducted extensive laboratory testing to ensure that the plastic bottle would meet all reasonable recycling needs.

As part of the testing of this product, CPT participated in the Association of Post-consumer Plastic Recyclers (APR) "Champions for Change" program, a nationally recognized program designed to determine a package's compatibility in the current recycling stream. To develop the bottle, Miller and CPT involved the APR, the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR), the American Plastics Council (APC), and others in the plastics and plastics recycling industries. Miller and CPT have worked with the environmental community and recyclers to alleviate concerns about the bottle. The issues of the recycling community and the actions taken by Miller are outlined below.

Five-layer Design:

The Miller plastic bottle is made of a five-layer design. Three of these layers are made of PET and the other two are made of an extremely thin nylon material that prevents the influx of oxygen and loss of carbonation. Because of the unique properties of beer, without these nylon barrier layers, the product could not maintain quality standards.

The barrier layers are not an impediment to recycling. The layers are designed to separate from the PET layers in the recycling process and comprise only five percent of the total weight of the container. Recycling tests have shown that most of the bottle's barrier material is removed during the typical PET recycling process, and that the low levels that remain have no significant impact on the process and resulting recycled product.

Closure:

The closure on the plastic bottle was originally made of aluminum. However, to facilitate the recycling of the container, Miller is now using a plastic closure. This new closure is made of the same material as the closures on plastic soft drink bottles and does not impede the plastic recycling process. While an aluminum closure is recyclable if separated, if it is not removed from the plastic bottle, it is considered a contaminant to plastic recycling. Recognizing that some containers enter the recycling stream with the closure on, Miller made the change to the plastic closure.

The change to a plastic closure is the second modification made to the closure to accommodate recycling of the container. The first was made shortly after the container was introduced, when members of the recycling community identified that the pilfer ring from the aluminum closure, which remained on the container, was causing problems in some recycling systems. As an interim measure, Miller changed to a closure on which the pilfer ring comes off the container to eliminate the problem.

Label:

The label currently being used on the plastic bottle is a metalized paper label. In response to input from the recycling community, Miller has committed to moving from the paper label to a plastic label, as the plastic label is lighter and will allow for easier separation and removal in the recycling process. The new label will be made out of the same material as most labels on plastic soft drink bottles.

There is a common misconception that the metalization impedes the recycling of Miller's plastic bottle. However, recycling tests have confirmed that the metalization on the label is not an impediment or contaminant. The new plastic label will also be metalized, which does not in any way affect the recyclability of the container.

Amber Color:

Miller is marketing beer packaged in both clear and amber plastic. As with glass packaging, the amber color is necessary for brands that require protection from light in order to maintain product quality. Since only green and clear PET containers are currently being collected in public/private curbside and drop-off programs, the introduction by Miller of an amber PET container has caused some concern to operators of collection systems. Their major concern is that there will be no market for the amber bottles collected, and they will be left with a disposal problem. This is an industry-wide concern, as other companies are using amber, blue or other colored bottles. To address this concern, Miller is contributing to a National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) project that is researching sortation methods, reclamation technologies and end use market development that will assist in increased recycling of colored plastic bottles. Miller is confident that just as the green plastic bottle eventually gained acceptance, that the amber bottle will, too.

Miller has worked closely with Continental PET and the plastics industry to facilitate the collection and reprocessing of the amber bottles. There are now at least three processors that are accepting amber plastic. Further, Continental PET has a buyback program to purchase all available amber post-consumer PET at a premium price to existing mixed bale prices for PET. This program will be in place at least until the end of the year 2000, at which time both Miller and Continental PET will closely evaluate the program.

Post-Consumer Recycled Material:

Miller is committed to using post-consumer recycled materials in the Miller Plastic Beer Bottle. The Miller Plastic beer bottle will be the first nationally distributed plastic beverage container of any significance to use post-consumer recycled material. In other words, this product will not only include recycled material, but also can be recycled for use in additional bottles and other PET packaging.

 

 

Additional Information

The Latest Packaging Innovation: Beer in Plastic Bottles

Latest Advance in Consumer Friendly Packaging: Beer in Plastic Bottles? The Idea is Brewing

Industry Groups Coordinate to Ensure the Successful Introduction of Plastic Beer Bottles

Miller Brewing Company

 

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