The Mexican Beer manufacturer Corona has found an innovative new solution to the problem of plastic packaging which holds packs of beer together.

They have redesigned their beer cans so that the top and bottom have a semi-screw mechanism, allowing cans to be “locked together” and carried like a tube. Allegedly the system is strong enough to comfortably connect 10 cans together (just resist the urge to play with this like a sword like the guy in the video below)

fit packs carrying

They call the system “Fit Packs”.

Check out the video below which describes the innovation.

Developed with media agency Leo Burnett, it has just been shortlisted for a presigious Innovation Lion at the Cannes Lions 2019 Festival of Creativity, the Oscars of the Advertising world.

By stacking cans together, you remove the need of additional packaging to group cans or bottles into “Six-Packs” or “Four Packs”. Corona estimates that each year, the beverage industry uses more than 17 million tons of plastic, which could be saved by adopting this new stackable design.

One of the design briefs for the system should be that it should eliminate plastic in their packaging. This is because the plastic rings holding six-packs of beer together have been especially dangerous to marine life, where fish and turtles often get stuck in the rings.

Previous attempts to replace these rings with cardboard, biodegradable glue, or even biodegradable material made from byproducts of the brewing process which fish could eat, have existed for years but haven’t been financially viable to scale.

Conversely, the new Fit Packs system actually reduces the number of manufacturing steps as no packs need to be pre-packaged at all. The creators say that this makes the system much more economically appealing, and Corona is working on scaling this now.

fit packs stacking

More importantly, Corona is actually Open-Sourcing their can design, so that any other company can use it. They hope that this will spur the adoption of the new technology and reduce the amount of packaging harming the environment.

What do you think about this innovation? Would you buy cans of beer without a bag? Let me know in the comments below.

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Nick Skillicorn

Chief Editor, Founder & CEO at Improvides Innovation Consulting
Creativity & Innovation expert: I help individuals and companies build their creativity and innovation capabilities, so you can develop the next breakthrough idea which customers love. Chief Editor of Ideatovalue.com and Founder / CEO of Improvides Innovation Consulting. Coach / Speaker / Author / TEDx Speaker / Voted as one of the most influential innovation bloggers.