UK: AB InBev reveals plans to pilot a refillable glass bottle

Brewing giant AB InBev announced on March 12 plans to pilot a refillable glass bottle programme, Drinks Retailing News reported.

Speaking at a sustainability event at the company’s Magor brewery in South Wales, Brian Perkins, Western Europe president at AB InBev, stated that the initiative is partly driven by the upcoming Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme and the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), both of which have implications for glass bottles.

Perkins emphasised that the project is still in its early stages, with a pilot likely to take place in Newport, near the Magor brewery. While there is no fixed timeline, the pilot could begin as soon as this year, but full implementation may take several years.

He said: “We’re working actively with the Welsh government and other producers across different beverage products to reimagine a future where bottles are returnable in the UK, and refillable.

“We always try and do things that would be both good for business and the right thing to do. And it’s very exciting because this investment would create jobs, too.”

Of the potential programme, Perkins said: “It’s frankly in response to the crushing weight of packaging taxes (in the UK) which are some of the highest in the world.

“Of all the places in Europe the EPR scheme in the UK is one of the highest when it comes to the weight of the tax.

“These things (like EPR) always come with the right intentions, but the cost is a massive deterrent to companies like ours and so we’re trying to look for better ways to solve that problem, instead of taxing the packaging we have to a point where it’s damaging the industry.”

Perkins stated that it would not be AB Inbev alone. “We would need to work with others in the industry. In must be industry wide. And like I said, we are actively seeking support from the government because it’s good for the economy, too.”

While Perkins said he remains optimistic, he also said that AB Inbev is realistic about costs, and that increasing costs in the UK could cause them to brew elsewhere in a worst-case scenario.

“We are a multi-national company, and we make economically rational decisions. We can put investment anywhere we want in the world and there are so many attractive things about this market. My team and I advocate for it. But, at some point any investment board looking at rational decisions considers business friendly environments.

“If Germany or France or Brazil have more business-friendly environments and work in better partnership with business then the investment dollars are going to go there.

“I don’t want to create doom and gloom because we are growing in this market. But, of course, long term there are threats.”