KC-area breweries work to solve craft beer’s plastic problem
KANSAS CITY, MO. (July 26, 2023) – Kansas City-area craft breweries are joining together in an effort to eliminate plastic waste created by the millions of can carriers that cycle through the region every year.
They’re working with Craft for Climate, a non-profit organization that aims to raise awareness in the craft beer community about climate change, and how the plastic carriers holding many of our favorite beverages often end up in landfill – even when they’re tossed in the recycling bin. As a result, participating breweries are encouraging consumers to bring can carriers back to be reused or properly recycled.
“People think they’re doing the right thing when they drop can carriers in their recycling bins, but because recycling centers have difficulty processing them, they might be doing more harm than good,” says Alex Parker, founder of Craft for Climate. Parker is a Kansas City native who lives in Chicago.
“We want breweries and drinkers to know that there’s a better way,” he says. “The craft beer industry has always stepped up to support its community. This is an easy way to do a good thing.”
Despite being marketed as “100% recyclable” by manufacturers, most plastic can carriers end up in the waste stream after just one use. It’s an unfortunate reality that has frustrated the environmentally conscious craft brewing industry for some time, mostly because pitching them into curbside recycling bins is actually part of the problem. In the Kansas City area alone, it’s estimated that more than 1 million can carriers are in circulation annually. Less than 10% of them end up getting reused or recycled.*
Like almost all plastic packaging, snap-on can carriers (sometimes called holders, handles or toppers) are incompatible with sorting equipment. As a result, they get rejected at material recovery facilities (MRFs) and sent to landfill, which has negative impacts on the environment.
A number of KC-area craft breweries have joined the effort, including Crane Brewing, BKS Artisan Ales, Alma Mader Brewing, Fringe Beerworks, East Forty Brewing, Limitless Brewing, Servaes Beer Co., and newly opened Friction Beer Co. Many were already collecting toppers, but now they are part of a coordinated effort to reduce waste.
If reuse is not possible, the can carriers won’t end up in the landfill. Craft for Climate is working with Recyclverse, an Independence-based business that makes new products out of old plastic. Recyclverse is part of the Precious Plastics movement.
Kansas City is Craft for Climate’s second market. In Chicago, it’s partnered with 50 craft breweries and bottle shops since May 2022, diverting tens of thousands of can carriers from the landfill. The project was inspired by the efforts of Rob Vandenabeele, aka EcoFriendly Beer Drinker, in New England.
Given the proliferation of plastic production, the importance of establishing successful reuse schemes to combat its negative environmental impacts has never been greater. The KC effort hopes to reduce the need for new carriers by allowing the ones already in circulation to be used over and over again.
Reusing can carriers prevents unnecessary energy use in manufacturing, decreases greenhouse gas emissions associated with additional deliveries and spares wildlife from entanglement or microplastic ingestion that can occur when plastic packaging isn’t properly disposed.
“We think this program can really make a difference, and we think it’s replicable across Missouri, Kansas and other places,” Parker says. “If you’re a brewery or bottle shop that wants to start collecting carriers, go ahead and start. It’s the first step in addressing the problem.”
For more information about the program visit Craft for Climate. Local media can contact KC program ambassador Jeremy Hogan at kc@craftforclimate.org.
*Estimates for can carrier use, reuse and recycling were calculated using data collected during correspondences with several dozen breweries, officials from recycling groups, and several of the largest waste management companies.
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