Bridge Road Brewers has long been a valued customer of PakTech, recognised for its innovative, recyclable multipack packaging solutions - alongside its award-winning beers. The brewery has recently taken a significant step in adopting PakTech’s natural (non-pigmented) handles across its new non-alcoholic beer range, now stocked in major supermarkets including Coles and Woolworths.
Bridge Road Brewers was an early adopter of PakTech’s natural HDPE handles, which enhance the circular economy potential of their packaging. While all PakTech handles are recyclable, natural handles can be remade into products such as milk bottles or cream jars, allowing them to be recycled multiple times into the same type of product.
While natural handles maximise closed-loop recycling opportunities, coloured handles are also fully recyclable. PakTech’s black handles, for example, use an NIR-detectable colourant, enabling them to be sorted, recovered and remade into new products, supporting reuse and circularity across a wide range of applications.
Based on about 350,000 units of PakTech handles used annually, Bridge Road Brewers is helping redivert the equivalent of around 100,000 2-litre milk bottles—or 4–5 tonnes of recycled plastic—from landfill each year.
Ben Kraus, Founder of Bridge Road Brewers, explains the rationale for the shift:
“We introduced the natural handles on our non-alc range because they’re more recyclable and look great with the white and gold cans.”
Ben says while environmental motivations were a consideration, the product’s practicality was vital. “The handles are easy to use, cost-effective, and machine automation is inexpensive. Plus, the fact they can be reused adds significant value.”
Bridge Road Brewers also uses PakTech’s 100% recycled can carriers because they require significantly less material than conventional paperboard wraparounds.
Classic PakTech 4-packs weigh just 12.5g (vs about 22g–23g for paperboard based wrap arounds) and 6-packs 19.5g (vs about 32g–36g).
By using PakTech can handles Bridge Road Brewers help to reuse a lesser quantity of packaging material derived from waste that is already in the market, rather than a higher percentage of virgin material as required for commonly used heavier weight paperboard based alternatives, further reducing environmental impact.
Using PakTech can handles allows Bridge Road Brewers to use more recycled material and less virgin material than when using paperboard alternatives, reducing their environmental impact.
Bridge Road Brewers has used PakTech’s educational resources at industry events, such as the High Country Hop festival, to showcase the benefits of recyclable, reusable packaging.
“PakTech genuinely considers the circular economy. They design their products so they can be reused. They could easily have made them single-use, but they didn’t,” Ben says.
While environmentally conscious choices are increasingly important to consumers, Bridge Road Brewers balances sustainability with practical business considerations.
“People drinking craft beer are generally thoughtful about what they buy—they care about local sourcing, community, and the environmental impact,” Ben says. “But everyone has finite resources, so they balance these choices with personal priorities.”
The brewery’s approach underscores that sustainability is most effective when it is both environmentally and economically viable.
Bridge Road Brewers continues to innovate with PakTech, expanding the use of natural handles across their product range and exploring the adoption of the new Keg Kap. The brewery is also considering collaborations that highlight the connection between recycled materials and community events, further reinforcing their commitment to practical sustainability.
By combining recyclable, reusable packaging with educational storytelling, Bridge Road Brewers and PakTech are providing a compelling model for other craft breweries to follow, demonstrating that environmental responsibility can coexist with consumer appeal and business practicality.
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