Green packaging - Archives

Aluminum Bottles and “Downweighting”

Posted by: | March 16, 2012

There’s an excellent article in the Aluminum Association about the benefits of “downweighting”. I guess “downweighting” is now part of our lexicon, just like “downsizing”. In another Aluminum Association article, an aluminum industry executive is quoted as saying “A transition to strong, affordable and carbon-reducing aluminum already is underway, which will enable cars and trucks […]

Aluminum Bottles for Hair Care

Posted by: | December 7, 2011

Niche, a Canadian manufacturer of premium hair care products, makes a compelling case for the use of aluminum bottles. Here’s their justification for the use of aluminum bottles, straight out of their website: ” So, why aluminum? Aluminum can be recycled endlessly, whereas even recyclable plastic has a limit to how many times it can be […]

Reusing Aluminum Bottles

Posted by: | July 22, 2011

It appears that some beer homebrewers like to re-use the aluminum bottles of their large commercial beer competitors. Some folks from the Homebrewchatter.com, a forum dedicated to homebrewers, recently discussed the use of used commercial aluminum beer bottles to fill with their own home brewed beers! Personally I think it’s a great idea. I know […]

Aluminum Bottle Refilling Fountains

Posted by: | May 25, 2011

Here’s an excellent example of thinking green and at the same time thinking holistically when it comes to the use of aluminum bottles. A class at Pratt Institute decided to focus attention on the use of existing water fountains around campus as refilling stations, using aluminum bottles, of course. They decided to create a branding […]

Aluminum Bottles – World’s Most Sustainable Beverage Container

Posted by: | April 25, 2011

In its 2010 life cycle analysis (LCA), the Aluminum Association made the bold claim that aluminum is “the world’s most sustainable beverage container.” You can view the study results yourself here: www.aluminum.org/lca.  The study pointed out the following “green” improvements of the aluminum industry: Reduction in overall carbon footprint of the aluminum can by 44 percent […]

More On Aluminum Bottle Weight Advantages

Posted by: | April 12, 2011

It’s nice when scientific studies confirm your gut instincts. I recently compared the weights of one-gallon bottles in glass, plastic, tin and aluminum and surmised that aluminum provides advantages in physical distribution of consumer products like beer simply because of its lighter weight. A study in Germany confirms my instincts. The Wuppertal Institute conducted a […]

Aluminum Bottle Weight Advantages

Posted by: | April 6, 2011

This is a follow-on to my previous post on the weight advantages of aluminum. In that post, I compared the weights of one-gallon bottles made of aluminum, plastic, glass, and tin.  Aluminum emerged as one of the lightest bottles, second only to plastic, which has well-known environmental negatives. The weight advantages of aluminum across the […]

Aluminum Bottles in High Schools

Posted by: | March 24, 2011

I posted a while back about some college organizations at the University of Utah pushing for the elimination of plastic bottles in their campuses.  It seems high school students are now joining the effort. Students in Fair Lawn High School in New Jersey are now using new aluminum water bottles.  Their goal is to make […]