The remarkable team at Eden River Brew Co is revolutionising how we think of packaging by successfully eliminating the use of plastic from their packs of bottled and canned beers for export.
Since the early days of the business in 2011, Eden River Brew Co has had the mindset to turn away from the use of plastic in its packaging, as far as is possible.
‘The concept for this pioneering packaging originated with our desire for no-plastic gift packs. We started with our four-bottle gift pack, and then came the cardboard cube for the cans.’
‘Developing,’ as brewery founder Jason Hill claims, ‘What is probably the cutest craft beer gift pack around!’
Following on from the original cardboard-origami of their gift packs, developed with support from Caledonian Packaging, Eden chose to overhaul the traditional, plastic-heavy method of packaging bottled and canned beers for wholesale with a uniquely designed, cardboard-only based package.
‘Our aim was to develop a no-plastic, no-tape packaging solution for our next shipment to China, to get away from the plastic wrap that is typically used around packs of bottled beer.’
In development for six months, the prototype was shipped to China to see if there were any issues before being committed to use for a large consignment. Successfully passing the first test with few modifications –stronger bottom, revised fold-in panels, heavier duty cardboard –box mark #2 is now in production for export.
In avoiding entirely the use of non-recyclable plastic materials, not only are these boxes good for the environment, they are efficient for business too. By being a self-contained packaging solution, there is no need for additional time to be spent on wrapping and taping. In addition, the boxes can be stacked for sale more safely and efficiently.
‘Whilst the plastic wrap offers the product some UV protection, and the cardboard tray some stability, our box does that but better still. We also engineered the boxes to fold internally, like with our gift packs, ensuring the bottles were snug on the journey with no chance to rattle.’
Whilst the 'cutsie' gift cube is on sale in stores in the UK and from the brewery online shop, with a specially designed for sale in Westmorland Services outlets, Jason’s next aim is, ‘To develop this larger packaging solution for the wholesale UK market.’