Aluminum bottles that keep beer colder for longer than either glass bottles or aluminum cans have been criticized for their potential impact on the environment. “This aluminum bottle is bad news for t…
Aluminum bottles that keep beer colder for longer than either glass bottles or aluminum cans have been criticized for their potential impact on the environment. “This aluminum bottle is bad news for the environment,” said Pat Franklin, executive director of the Container Recycling Institute in Arlington, Virginia. The aluminum bottles weigh 3 times as much as cans made from the same material, reversing a trend for progressively decreasing the weight of containers. “After three decades of progress in reducing the weight of aluminum cans and thus reducing their environmental impact, they“ve just really taken a step backward with this aluminum container,” said Ms. Franklin. Although Americans recycle aluminum containers at twice the rate of glass bottles, the new aluminum bottle poses a greater threat to the environment because of the requirements of the manufacturing process, according to Franklin. “There“s no way that an aluminum bottle can compare favorably to a glass bottle in terms of the environmental impacts of that container,” she said. “You might have twice the likelihood of recycling it, but it“s many times more damaging to the environment.” Glass manufacturing is a fairly benign process environmentally when compared to the impact of the energy and raw material consumption of aluminum manufacturing, she said. Pittsburgh Brewing Co. launched its Iron City beer in aluminum beer bottles nationwide in August 2004, the first beer to be marketed across the country in the container. Brewing giant Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. is to test-market the container for some of its beers in autumn 2004. As well as keeping the contents colder for longer, the aluminum bottles have won praise from consumers for their metallic look.