Beer clips collections for reuse
The Story Behind the Solution
When I lived with a brewer who constantly brought home plastic beer clips, I noticed an opportunity. At first, I simply returned them to the brewery through him. But then a bigger question emerged: why not create a solution that everyone could participate in? This realisation led me to establish collection points at bottle shops and recycling centres throughout Perth.
Understanding the Challenge
These beer clips are manufactured from rHDPE (recycled high-density polyethylene) by the global company Paktech. In 2022, I learned two critical facts that sparked action: these clips cannot be recycled through regular kerbside bins in Western Australia, and remarkably, they can be reused more than 50 times.
The problem extends beyond just waste. In Western Australia’s Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs), these clips are considered contamination. Despite being made from durable plastic designed for longevity, they rarely find appropriate recycling channels. Instead, they typically end up in landfills or, worse, polluting our natural environment.
This situation presented a perfect opportunity to create a closed-loop solution benefiting both businesses and our ecosystem.
Creating a Circular Economy Solution
The Beer Clip Collection Program embraced circular economy principles at its foundation. Although we weren’t the original producers of the clips, we found ways to extend their useful life—sometimes multiple times over. It’s important to understand that our focus wasn’t recycling but reuse. However, we ensured that broken or unusable clips were properly recycled at Claw Environmental in Welshpool.
We built partnerships with local bottle shops, major event venues like RAC Arena and HBF Stadium, recycling centers, and breweries to collect used plastic beer clips. These clips were then carefully sorted, thoroughly cleaned, and returned to breweries for reuse. This process effectively extended the material’s lifecycle and reduced the need for new plastic production.
Real-World Impact
The program quickly gained momentum as local businesses eagerly joined our effort to reduce their environmental footprint. By designing a simple, efficient collection system, we made it easy for everyone to contribute to the circular economy. The collected clips were processed by our partners at Workpower, ensuring each piece was thoroughly cleaned and prepared for its next use.
Our key achievements included:
- Diverting 181,549 plastic beer clips from landfills and reintroducing them into the supply chain by the time we handed the program to Purple Heather
- Creating employment opportunities for the founder of Donut Waste and later for employees at Workpower and Purple Heather—both organizations that employ people with disabilities who found the sorting, cleaning, and repacking of clips to be well-suited to their skills
- Fostering community engagement among participating businesses, who proudly showcased their involvement in sustainable practices
- Improving resource efficiency by promoting reuse over recycling, thereby reducing the demand for virgin plastic and minimising the energy footprint associated with producing new materials and transporting them to Western Australia
Navigating Challenges and Finding New Solutions
While the program achieved meaningful success, we encountered significant challenges along the way. Rising operational costs, particularly for sorting and cleaning, eventually made the program financially unsustainable for Donut Waste to continue independently.
This challenge led to an innovative solution: I transferred the program to Purple Heather, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing employment for people with disabilities. Keeping all operations under one roof made more economic sense and allowed the program’s environmental benefits to continue.
The Journey Continues
Though Donut Waste’s direct management of the Beer Clip Collection Program has concluded, its legacy continues.
In November 2024, Donut Waste partnered with Purple Heather to take over the program completely. To learn more about this transition, read Economic pressures spark new partnership: Donut Waste and Purple Heather saving beer clips and creating jobs.
If you’re interested in becoming a collection point or have questions about beer clips, please contact Paul from Purple Heather through their contact page.
