German Retailer Ditches Plastic for Canned Beer and Soda

NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA, Germany — While some companies and supermarkets have been switching drinks to plastic bottles, hoping to cut emissions with lighter weight packaging, one retailer in Germany is swapping plastic bottles for aluminum cans.

Penny Markt, a discount chain, is switching 10 beverages to aluminum cans, which can be recycled infinitely back into themselves, unlike plastic PET bottles, which can only be recycled into the same material a couple times.

Announcing the change with the slogan, "The can is back," Penny Markt is now offering beer brands Bitburger, König Pilsner and Adelskronen, and Pepsi, Pepsi Light, Coca-Cola, Schwip Schwap, Fanta, Sprite and Red Bull in aluminum cans. The switch is starting in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and will expand to other states, and eventually include more beer and carbonated drink brands.