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Glassmaker O-I has further boosted the environmental credentials of glass packaging with the launch of a new lightweight standard half-litre beer bottle. The bottle is made by O-I for Adnams beers, and won a Starpack award in 2007.

The new 300g container, which is available to all UK brewers in clear and amber glass, uses the same blank moulds as the Adnams bottle. This has enabled O-I to reduce the weight of its standard half-litre beer bottle by around 33%. Figures released by WRAP (the Waste Resources Action Programme) indicate that, if all 500ml ale bottles reduced weight at this rate, the reduction would save 10,055 tons of glass, with all the associated environmental savings in terms of carbon, energy consumption, quarrying and transportation*.

O-I is pioneering these dramatic improvements through its highly developed expertise in narrow neck press and blow (NNPB) manufacturing technology.

Paul McLavin, UK sales manager for O-I, says: “This investment by O-I demonstrates our commitment to the continued environmental improvement of our industry and our customers’ businesses. The benefits proved by the Adnams development and the subsequent use of this technology by Marston’s are now available to all.”

*Based on figures devised by James Ross Consulting for WRAP, 2006