Are you ready for the next generation beverage can?
Every day, I decide to make a positive impact on our planet. I choose aluminium beverage cans instead of plastic bottles because aluminium is infinitely recyclable—meaning it can be recycled innumerable times without the material quality degrading. To compare: Paper can only be recycled six to eight times before the fibres become too short to use again.
Couple infinite recyclability with aluminium made from hydropower (a renewable energy source), and I’ve easily lowered my personal carbon footprint with just one choice.
But, how can I be sure that my beverage can is made with hydropower? How can you be sure your beverage can is part of this next generation?
Knowledge is power
In the future, we can look to a label on the can for sustainability information. Beverage manufacturers that use START will be able to place a QR code on their packaging that allows you to see how that can was made, where it was sourced, and the carbon footprint for the entire process. You’ll be able to track low-carbon aluminium all the way from the mine to your hand.
How do we make traceability possible?
Partnership with beverage manufacturers such as Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), the world’s largest brewer. AB InBev uses our low-carbon aluminium made with renewable hydropower along with recycled content to produce a more sustainable beer can.
In fact, Rio Tinto recently announced the launch of Canada’s first specially-marked, low carbon beverage can in partnership with Corona Canada. These cans—piloting in Ontario this summer—are made using aluminium from Rio Tinto and leveraging ELYSIS™ technology.1 As part of this limited release, the 1.2 million cans will be produced with a QR code to inspire consumers to learn more about the cans’ low carbon footprint.
A story of a beer can
Getting Corona Canada cans onto store shelves requires many steps. START provides traceability insights, with assured sustainability credentials along the process.
The future in your hands
Currently, around 70% of the aluminium used in cans produced in North America is made with recycled aluminum.2 Pairing recycled metal with Rio Tinto’s low-carbon aluminium, made with renewable hydropower and the direct greenhouse gas emissions free ELYSIS™ smelting technology reduces carbon emissions by more than 30%.3
These cans are the first step to a fully traceable, transparent beverage experience leveraging START insights.
START will change the way consumers behave and how supply chains transform
START’s ability to track and trace in complex and convoluted value chains opens a world of opportunity.
It gives the world an assured and secure way to provide transparent information from the mine all the way to the consumer.
Cans, cars, phones, laptops.
Currently, there is little to no information made to consumers on how and where these products were made.
However, with START and cooperation partners, we’ll be able to connect the information in the value chain in a transparent way.
START will help to transform the world so that one day when you buy something with a START logo, you’ll know that’s the one to get for its sustainability practices, backed by transparency and traceability credentials.
Related links
1 The cans will be available starting in June 2022, through LCBO and select grocery stores in Ontario, while supplies last. For more information on the specially-marked, low carbon Corona beverage cans, please visit: www.coronaextra.ca/ca_en/SustainabilityPrograms.
2Source: The Aluminum Can Advantage: Sustainability Key Performance Indicators, The Aluminum Association, November 2021
3Compared to current Corona Extra cans using traditional manufacturing techniques in North America