Beer is a complex industry, at once full of sobering interpretations of the truth (like the fact that many imported beers are actually made in Australia); an incredibly rich and growing sustainable micro brewing industry, a myriad of craft beers that are really owned by the big brewers and - single use PET plastic kegs.
Just when you thought you were seeing the back end of single use plastic bottles, along comes an even bigger one. The beer keg. And with it, claims of lower CO2 emissions from the manufacturer - who presumably has not been drinking the contents of his kegs. Amid increasing concern for micro-plastics in plastic bottles, the general over-consumption of plastic and the confounding mismanagement of its waste, plastic keg manufacturers are making in-roads into the traditional steel keg merry-go-round, with claims that the carbon emission savings afforded by one-way plastic kegs make them more environmentally friendly. And they just may have a point - and it's one supported by other sustainable businesses in different markets, but you be the judge. (At some point in history, another manufacturer claimed that single use plastic soda bottles was better than reusable glass - for similar reasons.)
The simple argument is that single-use beer kegs equal a ginormous reduction in global beer miles accrued via current logistics practices, especially for exported beer. The size of global beer market is mind boggling - just think of the amount of beer on tap at any city bar or in the fridge at your local bottlo - it got there somehow. Reducing the quantum of beer miles is an extremely attractive proposition in the efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of consumable products. And plastic kegs cuts beer keg travel miles pretty much in half.
Plastic kegs have been in play in Europe for some time and are increasingly in use in the gargantuan US beer market. (If you have an eye for industrial design, these amber coloured translucent vessels are pretty stunning - see main pic). In various forms, plastic kegs have been in play in Australia for about a decade as well, but more in the export market. Domestic use in Australia is currently rare however, with most brewers preferring the strength, environmental (re-fill) benefits, insulation properties and transport robustness of steel kegs.
The attractiveness of plastic kegs to brewers lies in the two main qualities - travel and cleaning.
Single-use plastic kegs don't need to be returned. Traditional steel kegs need to be returned from whence they came, once emptied - back to the brewery. There are constantly on a return ticket. And that means lots of transport in the supply chain. Plastic kegs = one way ticket = halving the logistics bill.
As well as reducing beer miles, plastic kegs negate the entire cleaning and sterilisation process necessary to sterilise containers as well as eliminate cross-contamination of beers when multiple breweries share kegs. Single-use means less miles, less chemicals, less labor and a much simpler logistics management, even if you include the recycling of the plastic keg.
The business of managing millions of kegs travelling around the world is fascinating. These hardy silver barrels have probably travelled more kilometres and to more locations than you ever will in your quest for wanderlust. A full size stainless steel keg delivers about 170 pots of beer and can be in service for 30 years or more. Steel kegs really are the poster-child of multiple-use and multi-serve product packaging. A steel beer keg’s life is essentially a constant rotation between brewery to bars, clubs, restaurants and hotels and back again, with a lot of cleaning in between. It’s a logistical and inventory management feat to make sure enough beer is always available at point of sale, clean and devoid of cross-contamination with other beers sharing the same keg.
While plastic kegs are being pitched at exporters, domestic brewers may ultimately be unable to ignore the cost benefits of plastic especially as the craft beer industry is growing exponentially and already uber competitive. The growing export markets for domestic craft beer, transport costs, logistics issues, the pursuit of improved freshness and reported hygiene concerns are the factors colluding to see one of the beer industry’s most long time sustainable practices being dumped for plastic.
As consumer demand grows for craft beers globally, Aussie exporters have to find a way to compete when the tyranny of distance is already against them. For isolated Aussie brewers, these single-use vessels offer the promise of paying for a one-way ticket and not a return. They also provide a lighter transport weight keg, supposedly easy recycling (assuming plastic recycling is available and up to par at the destination) and the deposits paid to a logistics company for keg security is gone. At a fraction of the price of steel kegs, plastic single-use kegs are attractive to start-up breweries - the numbers of which grow every year.
LOCAL CRAFT BREWER DRAFT BEER IS ALREADY A WINNER IN TERMS OF PACKAGING AS IT HAS NO THROW AWAY COMPONENTS. IT GOES FROM BREWERY TO KEG TO TAP TO GLASS. THAT IN ITSELF MAKES FOR A PRETTY ECO-FRIENDLY PRODUCT AS PACKAGING CAN CONSTITUTE AS MUCH AS 20% OF BEER’S CARBON FOOTPRINT.
For small breweries trying to get their beer to global markets, it's easy to see how tempting the use of single use kegs is, but sustainability finds a way and there is another alternative.
The middle ground solution may not lie in disruption via plastic kegs, but in utilisation and better management of reusable steel kegs through leasing and companies like Kegstar for example, use scanning technologies for its rental kegs, dramatically cutting costs for the brewers who can now cut many reverse logistics costs out of their budgets. Kegstar and others like them, buy the barrels, manage their transport, cleaning and return, including the offset of reverse logistics, because unlike a single brewer, they have other clients.By offering rental and lease agreements, keg management companies act as a travel agent coordinating a non-stop holiday. Keg management businesses work hard to minimize the distances empty kegs travel between retailers, keeping both costs and emissions low.
THE SUSTAINABLE CRAFT BEER INDUSTRY IS KEEN TO STAY WITH EXISTING STEEL KEGS AND SAVVY LOGISTICS BUSINESSES FIND SOME MIDDLE GROUND BETWEEN EXCESSIVE KEG MILES AND INTRODUCING A SINGLE-USE PRODUCT THROUGH RENTAL AND LEASE AGREEMENTS.
In the end, the choice is yours. With a little more knowledge to make better eco choices, choices about the beverage you consume may extend beyond appearance, aroma, flavour and alcohol content. Knowing how your beer arrived at it final destination is clearly becoming the fifth element.
The plastic injection into the brewing industry looks like it isn’t just reserved for kegs. One of the obstacles holding back brewers putting their beer into plastic bottles is keeping carbon dioxide from leaving the product, and oxygen from entering. With advancing technologies to counter this issue comes the prospect that plastic beer bottles may also be a very real thing of the future. If this all sounds a little familiar - think soft drinks - one can only hope that public opinion and the evidence against the literal rising tide of plastic bottles will offset the science and such a thing will never happen.At the same time, there are big changes afoot with many countries, including UK who introduced a law in December 2018 which sees businesses and manufacturers having to pay the full cost of recycling or disposing of their packaging waste. This is a game changer for packaging choices and puts ownership on the companies that produce damaging waste. One can only hope that even with the economics of shipping and packaging material costs, that the new law limits the oxygen, (or in this case carbon dioxide), given to the life of beer in plastic bottles. In the UK and around the world.