Why Breweries Are Finally Breaking Up With Plastic Can Rings

For decades, six-pack rings have been a quiet environmental problem hiding in plain sight. The thin plastic loops that hold cans together are cheap, fast to apply, and almost impossible to avoid once they end up in a waterway, a bird's beak, or a landfill that will outlive everyone reading this article. Breweries have known this for years. What's changed recently is that they finally have a packaging alternative that doesn't force them to choose between sustainability and shelf performance.

That alternative is coming from companies like Earthrings, an Elgin, Illinois-based packaging manufacturer (with a second base of operations in Richmond, BC) that makes plastic-free, compostable, and recyclable can carriers for beer, cider, kombucha, and other canned beverages.

The Problem With "Eco-Friendly" Cardboard

Plenty of breweries have already tried switching to cardboard carriers, only to run into a familiar complaint: the stuff falls apart. Standard cardboard rings soften in a cooler, tear during transport, and generally can't survive the same conditions a plastic ring shrugs off without a second thought.

Earthrings built its product specifically to solve that failure point. The company's can carriers are engineered to hold up to moisture and rough handling — the soggy cooler, the rainy afternoon at the lake, the delivery truck — while remaining fully biodegradable and safe to toss in a home compost bin. It's the same durability breweries expect from plastic, minus the centuries-long environmental hangover.

Why This Matters for Craft Beverage Brands

For small and mid-sized breweries in particular, packaging isn't just functional — it's part of the brand. Three things tend to come up again and again when brewers evaluate a switch:

• Reducing landfill and marine waste without sacrificing the ability to bundle and transport cans efficiently.
• Standing out on the shelf. A visibly sustainable, well-designed carrier signals brand values to increasingly eco-conscious drinkers before they ever read the label.
• Not slowing down the line. Packaging changes only work if they fit existing operations, which is why equipment matters as much as the material itself.

That third point is where a lot of "green packaging" pitches fall apart in practice. Earthrings addresses it directly by pairing its can carriers with dedicated applicator machines designed to bundle drinks quickly, so breweries aren't trading sustainability for a bottleneck on the production floor.

A Trend Bigger Than One Company

Earthrings isn't operating in a vacuum. Regulatory pressure on plastic packaging is intensifying across North America and Europe, and consumer expectations have shifted right along with it — drinkers increasingly notice, and remember, which brands package responsibly. Trade press covering the beverage industry has taken note of the shift toward compostable ring carriers as a genuine alternative rather than a niche experiment, and craft brewing associations have started featuring these solutions at industry events.

The bigger picture: plastic-free can carriers are moving from "nice-to-have" to a real competitive differentiator, especially in a craft beverage market where brand identity and environmental responsibility increasingly go hand in hand.

The Bottom Line

Breweries don't need to choose between packaging that performs and packaging that doesn't harm the planet. Companies like Earthrings are proving those two goals were never actually in conflict — they were just waiting for the right engineering. For brands looking to make the switch, the entry point is low: samples, a conversation with a packaging specialist, and equipment built to keep the bottling line moving.

As more breweries make the change, plastic can rings may end up looking less like an industry standard and more like a packaging choice nobody can justify anymore.

Learn more or request a free sample at earthrings.com