Brewery leads on banishing plastic

CASCADE Brewery has drafted a plan to become more environmentally friendly by ditching the use of plastic packaging on its beer can six packs. The Hobart brewery will be the first under the Carlton and United Breweries’ banner to replace plastic ring packaging with cardboard sleeves, before the initiative gets rolled out across the company’s other breweries over the next 12 months. Cascade Brewery general manager Anita Holdsworth said ceasing the use of plastic packaging was part of CUB’s 2025 Sustainability Goals initiative, which aims to have all packaging made from recyclable or returnable content.

“We want to be part of the community’s future, and protecting the environment is a key to that, so it’s important for us to be leaders in that space,” Ms Holdsworth said.

“We’ve made some really strong environmental commitments that we’re excited to see actioned in the coming years.”

Cascade’s decision to ditch plastic packaging for cardboard comes a week after the State Government released a consultant’s report into a 10c container refund scheme for Tasmania.

Ms Holdsworth said Cascade was excited to contribute to Tasmania’s growing environmental sustainability.

“It resonates with our role in the Tasmanian community that we should be environmentally conscious,” she said.

“We’re leading the trend now and I think it sends a really good message to the community.”

Cascade’s new cardboard packaging will reach bottle shops within the next two months.