In a partnership with WestRock and Grupo Gondi, Grupo Modelo is investing roughly 4 million dollars in the sustainable, fiber-based CanCollar® Eco solution in Quintana Roo, a Mexican state on the Yucatan Peninsula. The partnership aims to help advance the beer company’s sustainability goals by eliminating its use of plastic rings in Mexico.
Grupo Modelo is the first company in the Americas to adopt the recyclable CanCollar Eco technology, which will replace hard-to-recycle plastic packaging and is expected to result in over 100 fewer tons1 of plastic waste each year and avoiding 335 tons2 of packaging waste annually.
“At Grupo Modelo, we are continuing to evaluate various alternatives for plastic rings in the packaging of beer cans,” says Soqui Calderon, regional director of Sustainability for Grupo Modelo. “This is how we discovered CanCollar Eco, a new solution developed by WestRock and produced in Mexico by Grupo Gondi. Made from recyclable paperboard, this innovative packaging uses the least amount of material required to hold and to keep our beer cans secure through the supply chain.”
This solution will result in sustainability gains; specifically, it will enable the elimination of plastic rings on all cans sold in Quintana Roo in two phases. First, the 6-pack 355ml Corona Extra, Montejo and Modelo Especial can rings are being replaced. Then, in early 2022, the first high speed CanCollar Fortuna® machine for the application of this packaging will be installed to eliminate the use of plastic rings across Mexico on 6-packs including 355 million cans of Corona Extra, Montejo, Modelo Especial, Barrilito, Negra Modelo, Carta Clara, Bud Light and Victoria, as well as the 4-pack 473 ml cans of Victoria, Modelo Especial and Corona.
