Small Steps: Choosing a Healthy Sustainable Life: Plastic Craft Beer Can Labels

Monday 9 October 2023

Plastic Craft Beer Can Labels

Are you a beer drinker? Yes, then you can continue reading. If you're not a beer drinker... you can still continue reading and lament over yet more plastic in our lives!

I'm a beer drinker and I love my craft beers. Although I won't turn up my nose at a Rickard's Red... or a Sleeman Honey Brown. Even a Coors Light will do in a pinch. But craft beers... mmmm... those are good!

I was on the BC Ferries Inside Passage route a few months back. They serve alcohol (unlike the short routes between the mainland and Vancouver Island). And not just any alcohol, but local craft beers from Prince Rupert. Excellent!

It was a very nice beer but as I sat there and picked away at the label, I realized it was a plastic label, stuck on the naked aluminum can. And, me being me, I wondered... how does this get recycled???

With a regular aluminum beverage can, the product information is actually printed on the can.

It's just the aluminum can and some ink. So when they get recycled, the ink gets burnt off, but that seems pretty minimal.

But what about these craft beer can labels? They are serious plastic. Are we supposed to peel the labels off? And dump the label in the trash (ugh) and recycle the naked can? Nah, they can't expect that!

So then what? Some recycling guy is going to pull plastic labels off of millions of cans? Nope. They will just get dumped in the recycling furnace and all of that plastic will get burnt off and generate toxic fumes which, hopefully, get scrubbed out of the furnace exhaust. But who really knows.

Small Batch Brewers

I dove deep into why craft beer makers use these plastic labels and the short answer is... they do small batches and those big commercial can offset-printers are too expensive and/or need a large batch to make it affordable or doable.

So, for craft brewers, it's more economical and easier to just use sticky labels or... shrink-wrapped plastic labels. You know the ones. You think you have a printed can but... if you look closely, it's shrink-wrapped and you can slice the label and get the stand-alone label (see photo at right).

Peel Your Labels

That is annoying too... all that plastic... what a waste. But here's the rub... yet again... they pass this off to the consumer.

Here's a pic from a craft beer - Telluride beer (somewhere in the USA). See what the edge of that label says?

"PEEL OFF LABEL BEFORE RECYCLING"

Seriously. Their label of convenience tosses the onus on the consumer to peel off the label (and do what with it) and recycle the naked aluminum can. Or, the consumer can recycle the labeled can and bear the guilt of knowing that that plastic will pollute the atmosphere. Nice.

Some jurisdictions, like Quebec are now legislating that can labels cannot weigh more than 1% of the container weight (when it's empty). Since most labels weigh 10% of the can... that effectively eliminates most labels. And apparently they are moving in the direction of banning these labels entirely.

Contaminated Recycling and Fire Hazard

Even the recyclers are getting grumpy with the plastic labels on cans...

Michael Anderson, senior manager of recycling technology at aluminum recycler Novelis, says the potential fire risk involved with incinerating these cans is substantial. He tells me the plastic labels are about 10 times the weight of a can’s traditional paint coating, which makes them more difficult to burn off.
“Any combustibles, whether it be paper, plastic, or cardboard acts as a fuel source in our de-coating processes and at a minimum … hampers our productivity,” he says. “Worst case, the material flames so hot that it burns our baghouses and results in physical damage to our recycling process, ultimately resulting in a line stoppage until the equipment can be repaired.” (From The Takeout)

Ink-Jet Technology

So what can craft brewers use instead of plastic labels? Does it just mean more expensive craft beer. No. As it turns out, new ink-jet technology developed in the last few years means that small batches of craft beer can now have product information printed directly onto the can. So there is no need for plastic labels or shrink-wrapped sleeves or any other added complexity.

Aluminum is infinitely recyclable, and can be turned around in as short as 60 days. So when we buy our favourite craft beer... and we find plastic labels or shrink wrap on the can... perhaps it's time to contact the brewery and inform them that there is another option.

So I did... I wrote to Wheelhouse Brewing Co. in Rupert... see below...

Letter Template

Hi!

Had one of your beers (Blacksmith) on the Inside Passage ferry a few months ago. Loved the beer but wasn't happy about the plastic sticker label. Peel off the label and toss it in the garbage? Or let the label and aluminum can go into recycling where the label is burnt off into the atmosphere? Not great.

I know that small batch brewers use these labels because offset printing is too expensive for small batches. But do you know there is new ink-jet technology that allows craft brewers to print directly onto the can? See links below.

I'm originally from NW BC and I'd really love to see a local brewer be successful. But I also care about the environment and can't patronize a brewer that doesn't share my concern.

Small Steps: Choosing a Healthy Sustainable Life