You don’t often equate scientific advancement with the swilling of a few beers…
But consider Carlsberg Brewing Company. It was established in Copenhagen in 1847 by J.C. Jacobsen, a wealthy philanthropist, who named the company and its flagship brew after his son Carl. From the beginning, the company has been all about innovation. The original brewery featured a laboratory of Chemistry and Physiology that isolated and stabilized the world’s first pale lager yeast, made important advances in protein chemistry, and even invented the concept of the pH scale.
The company was one of the first to develop breweries for manufacturing its products outside of Europe. It has been a leader in packaging and labelling, with the original Carlsberg label and Elephant mascot known around the world. Today, it is a marketing machine, and has been the lead sponsor for numerous soccer teams and events, including Liverpool FC, Euro 2008 and 2012, and several recent World Cups. Heck, even its legal department is formidable, having for many years successfully defended Carlsberg’s use of the brilliantly qualified tagline, “Probably the best beer in the world.”
And now the folks at Carlsberg have come up with an idea so cutting-edge, so crazy, that it must have been a result of consuming a bit too much of their own product: “Let’s distribute beer in cardboard bottles!” Yep, Carlsberg’s packaging department has been working with a Danish firm called ecoXpac, together with the Technical University of Denmark and Innovation Fund Denmark, to develop an ingenious alternative to glass or aluminum: a bottle made entirely from wood fibers. (Imagine a denser form of egg-carton packaging, with an impervious lining.)
The “bottle” will be made from 100% sustainably-grown wood, will comply with all food and beverage regulations, will weigh less than glass, and be non-breakable and non-translucent (which will protect the freshness of the beer). Even the cap will be made of wood. Every scrap of the packaging will be completely biodegradable and will generate 0% waste.
Now, Carlsberg is a perfectly fine lager. But “best beer in the world”? Hardly. And most knowledgeable beer drinkers would rather support a small local brewery than a massive global consortium. On the other hand, it’s hard to argue with the value of a package you can just toss into the compost. Imagine the possibility of no beer cans or bottles in the recycling bin!
Carlsberg hasn’t announced a timetable for when the bottles will first appear, and they will be first introduced in test markets only.
But keep your eyes open. Someday soon, you may have an opportunity to indulge in a simple, irresistible act of eco-defense.
Drink a six pack, save the world.
– Mike Keeler
