11-03-2020

OneCircle expands its collection community in the UK

OneCircle is at BeerX at the Liverpool Exhibition Centre from 11 and 12 March – Booth 134

OneCircle, the global leader in PET kegs, has expanded its network of KeyKeg collection partners in the UK as part of its ambition to ensure all the plastic used in KeyKegs is reused for new kegs as part of its fully circular product design. There are now ten collection partners across the UK.

OneCircle has teamed up with Brighton Paper Round, part of the BPR Group, an ethical company which focuses on closed loop recycling and was originally Founded by Friends of the Earth in 1988. It is now offering the KeyKeg collection service to breweries, bars and restaurants in the Littlehampton, Brighton, Eastbourne to Haywards Heath catchment, ensuring the high-grade plastic they are made from are reused in new kegs.

Wayne Hemmings, Head of Service Delivery at Paper Round, said: "We had a number of customers asking us for help to recycle KeyKegs effectively, so we looked at the viability and found that it matched our focus on closed loop, ethical recycling, which is why we are now part of the OneCircle community."

Southsea based Staggeringly Good Brewery has also joined the collection community. The brewery is very passionate about protecting the environment and reducing waste in all the processes it uses. Despite being made of high-grade plastic, the brewery was concerned that KeyKegs were not always being processed properly. It uses a lot of KeyKegs in its own tap rooms and for its customers because it considers them the best option for delivering quality beer to customers. The new service is used by the breweries in the City and is open to anyone else who would like to use it for a small processing fee.

Joe Ross, co-founder of Staggeringly Good, said: "We want to change the conversation about KeyKegs because they are 100% recyclable and this isn't always understood. They have significant benefits over steel kegs, particularly when they are processed for recycling and reuse properly. We are passionate about our impact on the world we live in, so joining the OneCircle community is very important to us.

Wholesaler Jolly Good Beer distributes beers from breweries such as Cloudwater, Northern Monk and Polly's Brew Co across East Anglia and the East Midlands, many of which are in KeyKegs, is now also a collection partner. Jolly Good Beer prides itself of setting very high standards for how the beer is kept in distribution in the UK.

Yvan Seth, owner of Jolly Good Beer said: "We have a long-term relationship with OneCircle and have been collecting KegKegs for as long as we have been selling them. Now that we have the specialised baler, we can deal with them as sustainably as possible by processing them for recycling and reuse."

Annemieke Hartman, Chief Commercial Officer of One Circle, commented: "We are committed to ensuring that our kegs are properly recycled and reused in new kegs, making them fully circular. We welcome the new collection partners to the OneCircle community and look forward to working together to ensure KeyKeg is the most sustainable option for breweries, wineries, bars, restaurants and other beverage producers."

Both KeyKeg and UniKeg are 100% recyclable and can be used in a circular way as raw material for new kegs. Currently, 30% of a KeyKeg and UniKeg is made from recycled material thanks to the collection and recycling projects established by OneCircle which operate alongside existing waste streams. There are now successful schemes in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland, Switzerland, France and Belgium, with more planned around the world.

The kegs provide significant sustainability benefits including reduced CO2 emissions and water use, and there's no need for harsh cleaning chemicals. OneCircle has also joined the Plastic Alliance and signed its declaration that its products meet the environmental criteria of the European Union so no additional tax needs to be levied on them.

For more information about OneCircle's products and services visit www.onecirclecommunity.com.