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 value chain are clearly being recognized by some of the most innovative beer brewers around the world. The 16-Mile Brewing Company packages its beer line in aluminum bottles. According to the company, “During the initial transport to the restaurant or retailer, distributors report that with the lighter aluminum bottles they can place more cases on a pallet. This means that less shipments are needed and less trucks are on the road, thus reducing fuel consumption and emissions.”
From a consumer perspective, the light weight aluminum bottles also means greater convenience and less personal energy consumption. After all, the average glass beer bottle weighs about 6-7 oz compared to 1 oz for an aluminum bottle. You can lug a lot more beers in aluminum bottles than in glass.
