Home / ENVIRONMENTAL
2020
PACKAGING MATERIALS

Glass Packaging

Glass contributes to the highest volume of key packaging material consumption at ThaiBev. It is used to package various products, including white spirits, blended spirits, whisky, brandy, beer, carbonated soft drink, drinking water, etc. In FY2020, ThaiBev reused over 1,280 million glass bottles, and collected 120,000 tons of cullet to be recycled. The amount collected is equivalent to 82 percent of returnable glass bottle products sold by the company.
Primary Focus

reuse

REUSE
Ensure that returnable glass bottles are being retrieved.
Increase bottle durability to maximize the times its being reused.

Glass Packaging Retrieved


graph2
Increase Reusable Packaging
graph1

A nationwide campaign was launched to promote ‘Returnable est COLA bottles’ focusing on food shops and restaurants channel. As an industry, returnable glass bottles has been losing its charm at the expense of more convenient plastic PET bottles. However, EST brand sees sustainability differently and committed to re-activate relevance of this format driving growth of +7% and maximizing 80% of SermSuk’s environmentally friendly packaging portfolio in this channel, surpassing industry peer performance rates.


Paper Packaging

Paper is a raw material for our key secondary packaging i.e. inner carton and corrugated carton. The inner carton is often used to package premium brown spirits and the corrugated carton is used in bulk packaging for retail distribution for spirits, beer and NAB businesses. Currently, corrugated cartons used by ThaiBev contains average of 96% recycled content.
Primary Focus
reuse
RECYCLE
Increase the proportion of recycled content
reuse
REDUCE
Optimize the packaging to reduce resource consumption
Percentage of Paper Packaging Retrieved
2020-target-1

96%

Of paper used in corrugated carton is made from recycled content

3% increase
compared to FY2019
Paper Packaging Reduction Initiatives

Optimize the height and thickness of corrugated cartons
reduce
Reduce

18

tons of paper

Aluminum Packaging

Aluminum is widely used in alcoholic and non-alcoholic products both as primary packaging i.e. aluminum can for beer and carbonated soft drinks and as secondary packaging i.e. closure for spirits products.
Primary Focus
reuse
RECYCLE

Increase the proportion of recycled content

reduce
REDUCE

Optimize the packaging to reduce resource consumption

Can 2 Can

In 2019, ThaiBev has initiated the “Can 2 Can” project, a cooperative effort between ThaiBev and its direct supplier, the aluminum can manufacturer, and an indirect supplier, the aluminum sheet manufacturer. In FY2019 and FY2020, almost 2,000 tons of cans have been retrieved which amounts to 141 million cans have been retrived through this closed-loop packaging management sscheme. This initiative enable ThaiBev to increase the use of recycled material in our packaging and ensure that recyclable packaging is actually recycled. Currently, the recycled content of aluminium can use in ThaiBevs production is, on average, 61% by weight.

2020-target-1

21%

of aluminum cans sold in FY2020 were retrieved for recycling (by weight)

2020-target-1
Optimization of Aluminum Can

Aluminum can is one of ThaiBev’s main packaging used in Spirit, Beer and Non-alcoholic Beverage businesses. ThaiBev has been working closely with aluminum can suppliers to optimize the specification of aluminum cans to reduce environmental impacts while maintaining attractive design and products’ safety. By 2030, ThaiBev aims the amount of materials used in aluminum packaging by 2,700 metric tons compared to 2020

can

2,700 metric tons

of materials reduced

Plastic Packaging

Plastic is used mainly in a wide range of products in our non-alcoholic beverage business, namely drinking water, carbonated soft drink, functional drink, and green tea.
Primary Focus
reduce
REDUCE

Optimize the packaging to reduce resource consumption

Avoid single-use plastic


Optimization of shrink film dimension and thickness for Crystal and est play products reduce plastic consumption by

116

tons



Reduce weight of PET bottles for Crystal drinking water (350ml and 1000ml) and est carbonated soft drinks (1000ml) by more than

116

tons

Recyclable Packaging
Chang Recyclable Pack
Chang brand had recently launched Recyclable Pack as for their Cold Brew Lager. The pack made from LDPE bag is 100% recyclable and is also designed to be reusable. It is intended that the bag be reused multiple times before they must go through post-consumption recycling process. In order to allow consumers to properly manage post-consumption packaging, a QR code directed to online platform that features Recycling Drop Points is provided on the packaging. Consumers can conveniently access this platform via the QR code or visit www.bringbackrecycle.com/recycling where they can find locations for drop points of different post-consumption packaging such as PET bottles, HDPE bottles caps, aluminum cans and stretchable plastics i.e. plastic bags and films made of LDPE. The drop points is a collaborative effort between Thai Beverage Recycle (TBR), WON project, Precious Plastic Bangkok, Frasers Property Thailand and governmental agencies. There are currently over 459 drop points. The next phase of Bring Back-Recycle online platform will feature educational content as well as activities related to post-consumption packaging and waste management.
estt
alloishi
ThaiBev’s Carbonated Soft Drinks (CSDs) and Green Tea products are no longer sold in colored PET bottles to facilitate feasible recycling process. Realizing the potential environmental impacts of secondary packaging, ThaiBev is also working closely with its suppliers to study the possibility of switching from non-recyclable to recyclable or reusable alternatives. For instance, ThaiBev currently experiments on using PET of PVC labels in Oishi Green Tea products.
Less Is More

ThaiBev has continuously been reducing the use of raw materials used to produce plastics bottles since 2014. Up until today, the weight of PET bottles used for drinking water have been successfully reduced from 17g to 13.5g.

pet
2014 - TODAY

21%

of packaging weight reduced

2,800

TONS
of plastic reduced

11,350

TONS CO2e
of GHG emissions reduced
Phase out Single-use Plastic
KFC Green Store
The QSR of Asia Co., Ltd. under the Food Group of Thai Beverage Public Co., Ltd. joined hands with KFC Thailand under Yum Restaurants International (Thailand) Co., Ltd. to open the first KFC Green Store in Bangkok. This store encourages customers to participate in environmental conservation efforts, aligning with KFC’s principle “Done the Right Way”. This principle is practiced through quality ingredients, fresh and clean food, and our determination to save the earth. The coming of concept “KFC Fast Good”, is to do good thing and sustainable for the world

KFC Vibhavadi Branch, Bangkok, is a pilot branch to encourage the customers to save the earth by reducing the single-use plastic usage. This branch has switched the packaging to materials with minimum plastic, e.g., new knives and forks with 20% less plastic, switching to water-based coat instead of PE film-coated soda cups, biodegradable PLA straws, paper sauce cups, and thicker plastic bags. Moreover, solar panels are installed on its rooftop to generate the power used in the restaurant. This reduces the use of electricity by 20%. This branch also has air-purification system installed to treat the air before discharging.

At present, the store also joins hands with IRPC to encourage customers for sorting the trashes (knives, forks, spoons, and mashed potato cups) and recycle them to into other products.

New experience at this first KFC Green Store expects to see customers’ cooperation on post-consumer waste sorting or recycle process that align with Circular Economy.
Thailand Sustainability Expo (TSX) 2020
In 2020, ThaiBev and its partners from various networks, together with (Thailand Supply Chain Network) TSCN, organized the Thailand Sustainability Expo (TSX) 2020 and TSCN Business Partner Conference 2020. As part of sustainable packaging initiatives, drinking water packaged in 100% recyclable aluminum cans were produced and handed out to participants.
pet-circle

340 million pieces
Of plastic reduced

In accordance with Thailand’s National Solid Waste Management Master Plan (2016-2021), ThaiBev, as a major producer of drinking water, has participated in the “No plastic bottle cap seal” project to reduce plastic waste. ThaiBev’s subsidiaries, including Sermsuk and Thai Drink, signed an MOU for the project on February 13, 2018 at the Department of Pollution Control, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Together with other major companies, ThaiBev has agreed to stop using plastic bottle cap seals for drinking water starting April 1, 2018.


In 2019, ThaiBev replaced the plastic tray with paper box used in snack box for Oishi Delivery, amounting to 38,000 pieces. In 2020, the paper box was rolled out to sushi set delivery, amounting to 200,000 pieces. In total, this plastic packaging replacement shall account for 5.1 metric tons of plastic avoided.
Recycled Material as Packaging Solutions
ThaiBev has worked with a business partners to develop plastic shrink film from recycled materials. This plastic film is used for wrapping packs of Crystal Drinking Water in all sizes. This plastic film is made of polyethylene (PE), with a 25% recycled component. The shrink film made using recycled PE has been used since May 2020. This innovation help to reduce plastic waste by 45 tons and reduce GHG emission by 53 tCO2e per year.