Corona Bues beer bottles in Quebec will now be reused, like the traditional bottle of brown beer, a decision by the Labatt brewery which gives a boost to this type of container in the process of disappearance.
From September, empty bottles of the Mexican iconic Lager will no longer be crushed in order to be recycled; They will be returned to the Labatt brewery in the Lasalle district, in Montreal, in order to be washed and reused.
It is mainly because the Corona sold in Quebec is now brewed in the metropolis, since 2021, that Labatt can reuse these bottles, explains its principal communications director, Veronica Bart.
“It is really exciting to integrate the Corona into this longtime practice of large brewers,” she said, stressing that this will greatly reduce the environmental footprint of Labatt.
More than 20 million bottles will be reused each year, in Quebec, says Labatt, which belongs to the Belgian multinational Anheuser-Busch inbev, just like Grupo Modelo, which created the Corona.
All his variations are concerned, from ordinary corona to that without alcohol, via the light, which are all sold in the same bottle, made in Ontario.
And no need to endeavor to withdraw the Lime district which generally accompanies the Corona, specifies Mme Bart. “We are well equipped to remove it,” she said, explaining that it is done with high pressure jets of water and, if necessary, by manual interventions.
The transition did not require large modifications to the Labatt facilities, except that the company had to change the cameras which detect imperfections on the bottles so that they can treat those in clear glass.
Labatt proceeded to such a transition in 2024 in Ontario, where the Corona bottles are now washed and filled again to his London brewery; The brewer also plans to extend the measure to “another market in Canada” in 2026.
Photo Édouard Desroches, the press
The beer bottles used to sell the Corona will be washed and reused, announced the Labatt brewery.
Unexpected renewed
The number of “multiple filling containers” in circulation in Quebec will drop from some 85 million per year to more than 105 million, with the addition of Corona bottles.
This is an unexpected revival for this type of container, the use of which has radically decreased for fifteen years for the benefit of the aluminum can, which now represents 86 % of beer sales in Quebec.
“I hope that others will follow suit,” says Amélie Côté, an independent expert in the management of residual materials.
This is the most logical, glass is a lasting material.
Amélie Côté, an independent expert in the management of residual materials
However, regulatory obligations are needed for change to take place on a large scale, she argues, calling on Quebec to be inspired by what France does to promote the re-use of containers, through its instructions.
Read the file “Instructions on glass containers: France goes ahead”
“Having your containers is a source of resilience” at the time of commercial wars and shortages of raw materials, underlines Mme Side.
“Aluminum will start to cost dearly,” says Karel Ménard, director general of the Quebec Common Front for ecological waste management, which sees in the Labatt initiative the confirmation that re -use is not dead.
“If we can do that with beer, we can certainly do that with wine”, at least the one who is bottled in Quebec, which corresponds to the third of the total volume, he says.
“We would stop doing under cycling with glass”, to use it for other purposes than the redesign, says Mr. Ménard.
“Significant” impacts on logistics
The arrival of new reusable bottles on the market, on the other hand, displeases food retailers and the manager of the Quebec instructions, who find the moment badly chosen and which deplore the short notice that Labatt gave them.
Such a change will have “significant” impacts on logistics, which Labatt has “not thought”, deplores Jean-François Lefort, vice-president responsible for the strategy to the Quebec Association for Boisson Containers (AQRCB).
Clear reusable bottles must be stored on different pallets of brown reusable bottles, themselves stored on different pallets from those for single-use bottles, he illustrates.
Photo Édouard Desroches, the press
The management of clear reusable bottles like those used for Corona may cause headaches to food retailers, reports Jean-François Lefort, vice-president responsible for the AQRCB strategy.
“The launch would have been preferable to another period of the year, as we are currently at the heart of the high season of returning containers recorded,” said the Director of Public Affairs of the Association of Quebec Food Retailers, Samuel Bouchard Villeneuve.
“The logistics of resumption of the network are struggling to suffice on demand,” he added, thus scamming the AQRCB, with whom the frictions are numerous relative to the establishment of the new consignment system.
What about the other big brewers?
Almost all of the beers bottled in Quebec is in reusable bottles, in addition to aluminum cans. At Molson, each product brewed in Longueuil is bottled in “multiple filling containers” (CRM), but those brewed elsewhere are in single-use bottles, such as Heineken, bottled in the Netherlands, or the Mexican soil lager, bottled in Ontario, explains François Lefebvre, regional director of public and government affairs. At Sleeman, 95 % of beers are clogged in CRMs, including the famous clear bottle of the Ontario brewer; Only Sapporo is sold in single-use bottles, due to its particular format, explains Amélie Toupin, vice-president, commercial strategy.
