You may have noticed these last few weeks during curbside pick-ups that we have begun selling full cases of cans, in particular, without the traditional black Paktech four and six-pack carriers. This originates from both taking notice of industry colleague’s efforts as well as longstanding discussions about reducing our environmental footprint in as many ways as possible.

As we reconsider all parts of our operation with the challenges of 2020, finding ways where cost savings work in tandem with reducing environmental damage is an integral and logical part of our Conscience+Commerce initiatives. This reduces packaging costs using fewer of these can carriers, which helps us offset rising material and utility costs elsewhere in production, and speeds up the packaging process.

More importantly, what we don’t use doesn’t need to be produced in the first place! While some of these can carriers are made with recycled materials, they are often refused at recycling centers, so that most of them end up in the landfill. We often wonder to what extent “recycling” occurs, and know that the market plays the primary role in waste stream sorting. Reducing usage is more effective than counting on a process that may only exist in our wishful imagination.

We’ve noticed that many of you who buy full cases are taking the cans out of the Paktechs and loading your coolers, so perhaps this is an extra hassle we can help you avoid! We are still using carriers for smaller orders while we seek out and evaluate alternatives, but this is among many steps we must continue to take toward reducing our environmental impact.

If you’re a returning customer, we welcome you returning boxes or can flats when you pick up your next order. We’ll provide a drop spot beneath the overhang by curbside pickup where you can deposit them safely.

We encourage you to ask the people from whom you buy products what measures they’re taking to improve and reduce their impacts on the environment. More eco-friendly packaging and label materials here are in the works, as well as systems that allow us to recycle at a much higher rate.

Thanks for understanding and helping us reduce, reuse, and renew!