Brassed off
Scottish brewing company, BrewDog, has attracted some negative attention recently surrounding a “solid gold” beer can competition it ran for individuals to win one of ten of the cans, claimed to be worth £15,000 each.
However, some of the recipients have questioned the value after discovering the cans are made from gold plated brass. One of the winners has asked the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK to look into whether any rules were broken after he had it valued by a jewellery expert who said it was worth just £500. He also reportedly got in touch with the can makers, Thomas Lyte, who he said told him the cans were made from brass with a 24 carat gold plating.
BrewDog said the £15,000 value was “reasonable based on multiple factors”, including the manufacturing price, metal, and quality of the product. It added that the cans were collectible items, with the value “somewhat detached from the cost of materials”. The company said in a statement that they had contacted that particular winner privately “to apologise for the erroneous use of the phrasing ‘solid gold’ in some of the communications around the competition.”
All that glitters… hmmm.
But let’s finish with the positive news that Canpack Group, producers of sustainable packaging, has announced that it was awarded a White CSR Leaf by POLITYKA weekly. The award has been assessed in cooperation with Deloitte and the Responsible Business Forum and in addition to this accolade, Canpack was also recognised as a ‘best practice’ organisation when it came to reducing its carbon footprint.
The White CSR Leaf focuses on company projects that reduced a business’s impact on the natural environment and climate, as well as initiatives to counter the economic and social effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2019, Canpack Group introduced a sustainable development policy and the company’s approach is based on its three key sustainability pillars – care, sustain, recycle – and in addition to supporting the circular economy in 2020, the company implemented environmental targets whereby all its production facilities are now committed to reducing the consumption of electricity, heat and water, reducing the amount of waste produced and further improving recycling rates.
It has also invested in renewable energy and as a result, all of its production facilities and offices in Poland, the UK, Netherlands and Slovakia (including aluminium can, metal packaging, crown closure and glass packaging plants) are powered by 100% renewable electricity.
