ThaiBev places great importance on innovations and product design, including the return of post-consumption packaging into production processes, with targets set to to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
ThaiBev collaborates with business partners to develop packaging using fewer natural resources. Examples include reducing the weight of aluminum cans and the weight of plastic PET water bottles. ThaiBev have also recently implemented the technique called Narrow Neck Press and Blow (NNPB) in production of Hongthong spirits in 700 ml size. This collaborative effort between ThaiBev and its business partners has been in development since 2019 with the aim to reduce energy usage and minimize natural resource consumption.
Sorting of different types of packaging and reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills. TBR is responsible for the postconsumption collection and sorting process. TBR buys all types of ThaiBev packaging materials such as glass bottles, cans, plastic bottles, PET bottles, cardboard boxes, etc.
Packaging materials discarded after consumption can be collected and used as raw materials for manufacturing new products. TBR retrieves post-consumption packaging and sends it directly to packaging manufacturers or recyclers. TBR also manages kitchen utensils and POP (point-of-purchase)/POS (point-of-sales) materials from ThaiBev’s restaurants that had gone obsolete or malfunctioned. These items are repaired or refurbished so that they can be utilized again.
ThaiBev has been continuously working with stakeholders to develop sustainable packaging, including packaging made from recycled components. ThaiBev established BevTech Co., Ltd. (BevTech) as a Research and Development center with one of the branches being Packaging Business in order to develop sustainable packaging innovations and alternatives. BevTech has been researching on machines and robotics to facilitate the use of automation in ThaiBev’s production facilities. BevTech’s major achievement in recent years is the implementation of an automated bottle sorting conveyor belt (for more information
click here)
and introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) bottle sorting technology to the system through collaboration with CMKL university. The solution optimized ThaiBev’s bottle sorting processes by reducing human error, reusable packaging losses, and overall operating costs. (
see page 66 in SR2019)
TBR aims to promote post-consumption packaging management through engagement activities and encourage end users to participate in waste sorting so that recyclable packaging can be properly managed. TBR set out to find a sustainable solution and established the “Bring Back-Recycle” campaign encouraging ThaiBev employees to sort their trash. Under this campaign, recyclable packaging waste such as glass bottles, aluminum cans, and PET bottles are sold, and the earnings are donated to ThaiBev’s employees’ fund. Employees can follow up on the latest updates on the donations via "OK Recycle" application. The application systematically records recycling activities and relevant information. TBR also work closely with the Thailand Institute of Packaging and Recycling Management for Sustainable Environment (TIPMSE) and encourage the use of this application in activities which are organized by governmental agencies. 
The project is a collaborative effort between ThaiBev and its agents, or distributors, to collect used glass bottles of beer and spirits. In this new take back model, the agents collect packaging from retail stores. These post-consumption packaging will then be retrieved back to TBR factories via backhauling. The project had been successfully initiated with one of ThaiBev’s agents in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, with plan in place to extend this model to other distributors throughout the country. 
PET bottles can be upcycled to produce rPET (recycled PET) fiber, a value-added recycling method. In 2020, over 7.6 million PET bottles were retrieved by TBR and sent to an rPET fiber manufacturer to make, for the first time, 200,000 rPET blankets to be donated under the campaign “ThaiBev… Unites to Fight the Cold”. The production of rPET fiber uses 94% less water and 60% less energy than the typical production of polyester fiber. This results in a 32% reduction of GHG emissions or 7 tCO2e compared to the traditional production of 200,000 blankets. 
