Fulfilling the plans announced by Hi Cone when he presented RingCycles ™ in October last year, leading brands from beer in Spain they have adopted this new system of rings for fully recyclable beverage cans, which contains more than 50% of post-consumer recycled material. Thus, Spain becomes the first market where renowned beer brands use RingCycles ™, among which the following stand out: Mahou San Miguel, Heineken, Grupo Ágora Zaragozana and Damm.
Specifically, the beer brands that have 'migrated' to the new RingCycles ™ rings in the last half of the year are:
• Mahou, San Miguel, Kronenbourg, packed by Mahou San Miguel
• Heineken, Cruzcampo, Amstel by Heineken
• Ambar and Moritz by La Zaragozana
• Damm, Keler, Estrella Levante, Skol by Damm.
From a circular economy perspective, the impact on the entire packaging life cycle needs to be thoroughly analyzed. Hi-Cone obtained from the independent specialized consultancy Franklin Associates the analysis that shows that, for a pack of eight rings, RingCycles ™ have advantages over the cardboard options currently available, with reductions of 75% in greenhouse gases, energy, water and solid waste.
Post-consumer recycled content rings use 90% less non-renewable energy; reduce water consumption by 83%; by 75% the emission of greenhouse gases and create 43% less solid waste compared to the production of virgin material.
Hi-Cone aims to offer a 100% recyclable, biodegradable or compostable alternative by 2025. Hi-Cone's global sustainability plans include increasing investment in resource and materials research, significantly decreasing the amount of virgin plastic used, the increase in recycling efforts, social education campaigns to promote a circular economy for plastic and the reuse of the collected rings to guarantee a zero level of plastic waste.