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Maui Brewing Ditches Plastic Rings for Paperboard Cartons

Maui Brewing switches from plastic ring carriers to paperboard cartons for its multipacks, but CEO Garrett Marrero warns that the sustainability of different packaging materials is complex.

The new cartons, for four-, six-, 12-, and 24-ct multipacks of single and mixed SKUs, were designed in-house by Maui Brewing’s marketing team.
The new cartons, for four-, six-, 12-, and 24-ct multipacks of single and mixed SKUs, were designed in-house by Maui Brewing’s marketing team.

Founded in 2005, Maui Brewing Company is known for having paved the way for Hawaii’s thriving craft brew scene. Now the largest craft brewer in the state, it produces 125,000 to 130,000 barrels of craft beer, soda, seltzers, and spirits annually, 60% of which are canned, with the balance comprising draft beverages. In 2019, in response to consumer pushback against plastic and Hawaii’s lack of plastic recycling services, the brewer began the process of switching from plastic ring carriers to paperboard cartons for its multipacks.

For the reasons cited above, as well as the greater shelf visibility provided by cartons, Garrett Marrero, chief executive officer and co-founder of Maui Brewing, says the move made sense. However, he notes, replacing plastic with another packaging material, from a sustainability standpoint, is not always the best option. “I think the vast majority of the population erroneously believes that cardboard is somehow more eco-friendly than plastic,” he says. “On its face, it does sound like paper is better than plastic, but in reality, the type of plastic, where the plastic comes from, and how it’s processed, all these things have a bearing. But when you try to explain that to someone, you’ve already gone too far, and you’ve lost them.”


Read article   Read this related article to learn how Walkers switched from plastic film to paperboard cartons for its snack chip multipacks.


He adds that the PakTech-supplied ring carriers previously used by Maui Brewing are arguably the most sustainable option for six-packs. “For example, in 2019, we diverted 620,000 one-gallon milk jugs from landfills in order to produce the rings for our beer,” he says. “But the problem was that here in Hawaii, where 82% of our beer is sold, plastic is not being recycled anymore. So even though the rings are made from recycled plastic and can be recycled themselves, with Hawaii not recycling plastic any longer, those rings were then essentially single-use; we couldn’t get them back. So that’s why we elected to go in this different direction.”

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