Packaging
Always for a circular future
We have invested from the beginning in identifying new materials for sustainable packaging and in the best practices and solutions for this purpose.
By means of innovation and throughout the chain of value, we commit to continuously reducing the impact of our activity on the environment within a logic of circular economy paying particular attention to packaging.
Glass
We ensure circularity and promote a decrease in the amount of waste from packages placed in the market. In the case of beer, and in the HORECA channel, +86% of turnover comes from multi-purpose packaging (bottles and barrels).
Super Bock’s returnable glass bottles have more than 20 lives.
When properly handled, barrels can last for decades.
Fifty-one per cent of HORECA’s turnover comes from barrels, which allows for not generating package waste for every draught beer sold (data from 2019).
A SB 50L barrel is equivalent to 200 glasses of draught beer, that is, 200 toasts with zero package waste (considering 250ml glasses).
Returnable packages allow for us to save CO2 emissions when producing new bottles.
Returnable glass bottles are 100% recyclable after every use and the recycled glass may give rise to new bottles (bottle to bottle).
We promote reuse and more circularity in Super Bock, Pedras, and Vitalis bottles with the active participation of consumers.
We raise awareness to the importance of embracing the consumption of returnable packages, which is essential to reduce the production of new packages from natural (limited) resources.
Glass is eternally recyclable and has all properties ensured for a good beer experience:
Between 50% and 60% of glass in every Super Bock bottle is recycled.
Even recycled single-use bottles can turn into new packages.
In the glass reduction processes with BA, we saved 3,091 tons of glass (source: 2022 sales programme) by means of lighter bottle models, which is equivalent to reducing 1,205 tons of CO2.
Plastic
Our strategy has included, since 2008, a Packaging Improvement Programme, which coincided with PET coming into Portugal.
At the Super Bock Group, to invest in innovation is:
To foresee the best practices
To redesign the packages (eco-design, biomimicry, and other methodologies)
To find alternate models using less plastic or making packages reusable or recyclable
Vitalis has had outstanding dynamics in the Portuguese bottled water market and a successful case of eco-design:
Vitalis’ current bottle design was recognised internationally for being inspired on Nature using as a reference the growth of the eastern white pine’s spiral grain.
The inclined curvatures and variable angles in the bottle’s structure giving it the strength for support have innovated the industrial vision that is traditionally established on the horizontal lines.
This is an exclusive PET package, the lightest one in the Portuguese market, with lower weight and improved resistance.
The new Vitalis bottle – 100% recycled and recyclable – incorporates a larger quantity of recycled plastic into the packaging.
All in all: we avoid using more than 6.3 tons of new plastic per year.
Environment-friendly cups
In 2016, we were pioneers in introducing reusable cups in big events, which was the first step to reaching other initiatives and points of sale around the country. Goal: to reduce the amount of waste that single-use (disposable) cups normally generate.
Our reusable cups are currently available in over 50 events and more than 250 bars and restaurants in ten Portuguese cities.
Made from polypropylene, these cups were designed so that once washed, they could be filled with our products again. It is a form of reuse just like those made of glass that we provide.
Since we started using them:
6 million disposable
cups saved
In a campaign for reuse, we are providing ‘eco cups’ at Super Bock Super Rock in our bars throughout the venue. This way, we are promoting our environment-friendly cups in every edition of this great event.