The Glass Packaging Institute (GPI) announced the winners of its 2013 Clear Choice Awards on Tuesday, recognizing a number of consumer packaged food and beverage companies for their achievements in innovative glass packaging.
Two craft beer companies — Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) and Green Flash Brewing — were honored during the 2013 Pack Expo, an annual conference for packaging suppliers, held earlier this week in Las Vegas. According to GPI, entries were judged on innovation, package design and consumer appeal.
Craft Brew Alliance — which produces and markets the Widmer Brothers, Redhook, Kona Brewing and Omission beer brands — was recognized for its proprietary Kona Brewing bottle designs.
“With the help of our glass packaging partner O-I, we found out we could reduce the weight of our bottles by 11 percent and make them stronger,” CBA communications manager Jenny McLean said in a press statement. “That changed the shape of our bottles, which meant we could also put more in our shipping containers and reduce our carbon footprint. The estimated savings is 3,375 tons of CO2 emitted per year, which is the same as the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by a car traveling 8 million miles. It’s also equal to taking 638 cars off the road for a year.”
Green Flash Brewing was also recognized for sustainable business practices and received the “President’s Award for Advancements in Sustainability.”
Additional information and a complete list of award recipients is available here.