Beyond Planting Trees: More Sustainable Beer Packaging

The Sustainable Materials Innovation Hub is part of the Henry Royce Institute at The University of Manchester and is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

Plastic packaging and other materials such as bags, boxes, pallets, shrink wrap, bottles, cans, kegs, barrels and a whole lot more, are all essential to the business of brewing.

However, the vast array of packaging materials can often have a negative impact on the environment through unintended consequences such as plastic waste leakage and a higher carbon footprint.

For independent breweries in Greater Manchester, understanding the packaging lifecycle through your business and how to better embed sustainability, can be a real challenge. But it’s also a fantastic opportunity to innovate and connect with your passionate customers – something Manchester brewers have already built a reputation doing.

The Sustainable Materials Innovation Hub (SMI Hub) is a new local innovation programme that helps businesses across Greater Manchester to create sustainable solutions for plastics use and waste management.

We’re looking to bring together a group of local breweries to be part of a project to improve packaging across your operations and supply chain by understanding how materials are used and where they end up.

This is a great opportunity to engage and learn from sustainability and materials experts who are keen to make Manchester’s brewing community the most forward-thinking when it comes to great-tasting, sustainable beer.

Register your interest via the grey contact form below