AB InBev is launching 200,000 beer bottles in the UK to test its ‘tattoo’ imprinting technology to replace paper labels.
The company has announced that it is working to evolve from using paper labels on beer bottles to imprinting branding directly on the bottle themselves.
According to AB InBev, its method of ‘direct object printing’ uses only ink and varnish that wraps around the glass. It is also embossed for tactile effect.
Using newly developed technology from the Tattoo Alpha Plant in Haarsrode, in Leuven, Belgium, AB InBev will initially release 200,000 bottles in the UK.
The initial launch is part of the limited edition run of Beck’s Artist Series in collaboration with AB InBev’s global innovation and technology centre and six artists. Nine different bottles will be developed as part of the collection.
While the technology has been tested previously in small batches, AB InBev said this is the first time the method will be used in the broader mass market.
The beer company intends to expand its technology globally if successful, as it believes it new process could result in environmental and economic benefits and could one day replace plastic labels.
Earlier this year, AB InBev’s Budweiser Brewing Group UK & Ireland subsidiary announced that it will remove all plastic rings from can packaging across its UK-produced beer range by the end of 2020.
Most recently, the company announced that it will start delivering beers in Europe using electric trucks as of April 2020. The Volvo FE Electric truck, which is low-noise and emits no CO2, is part of a wider fleet of electric vehicles AB InBev is investing in across Europe, including Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
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