The Premier Package

"...by any measure, the aluminum can is the premier beverage package."

luminum beverage cans have long been the unheralded hero of soft drink packaging, safely and efficiently delivering to consumers superior beverages in a superior package. Just as the can has met the expectations of bottlers, brewers and consumers in the past, the can industry will strive to meet all the expectations of the future. We did pretty well in 1996. For instance, did you know that:

• 99 billion cans were sold to the beverage industry in 1996; some 64 and a half billion were used to package carbonated soft drinks while nearly 35 billion beer cans appeared on the market.
• The beverage can holds the lion's share of the package mix in the soft drink market. At retail, aluminum beverage cans represent, in units, almost 75 percent of all packaged soft drinks. The beer market tells the same story -- nearly 63 percent of all packaged beer is in aluminum cans.
• The can manufacturing industry reported a record 63.5 percent recycling rate last year, the highest recycling rate of all beverage packaging. In fact, consumers earned $1.08 billion in 1996 by recycling aluminum cans.
• Consumers prefer aluminum beverage cans to all other packages. When surveyed, more than half of all consumers, regardless of age or gender, stated their preference for aluminum cans over all other packaging.

As can manufacturers, we believe that, by any measure, the aluminum can is the premier beverage package. We will be sharing information and samples of our innovative work with you over the coming months to reinforce this belief with you, our customers.

Turning Cans Into Cash — A National Trend

t's not by coincidence that the aluminum beverage can is more synonymous with recycling than any other consumer product package. Today, two out of every three beverage cans manufactured are bought, recycled and back on the grocery store shelf as new cans in as few as 60 days. Americans have earned billions of dollars over the last twenty years by recycling aluminum cans -- in fact, consumers earned more than $1 billion in 1996 alone!

"Americans have earned billions of dollars over the last twenty years by recycling aluminum cans."

Ten years ago, the Can Manufacturers Institute launched The Great Aluminum Can RoundUp to teach community groups, Boy and Girl Scouts, businesses, schools and others how to turn aluminum cans into cash through recycling. Today, tens of thousands of groups participate in the RoundUp and have raised funds for very worthy causes. For example:

• Youth groups in Fargo, North Dakota, hosted a Great Aluminum Can RoundUp to earn funds to purchase a camel for their zoo. The program was so successful that a second RoundUp is underway to purchase a mate for the camel!
• Members of Lakewood, Colorado, Explorers and Boy Scouts collected 10,000 pounds of cans together with the Rockies baseball team and stadium. Funds earned were used to purchase radios, stretchers, bandages and other supplies for search and rescue operations.
• Children at Lely Elementary School in Naples, Florida, used their aluminum can recycling earnings to buy microscopes, binoculars, dip nets and books for an outdoor "cypress swamp" classroom and learning center.

The Can Manufacturers Institute is proud to celebrate the tenth anniversary of The Great Aluminum Can RoundUp and will mark the event in September by launching a recycling challenge for elementary schools nationwide. The 1997 event promises to be the RoundUp's biggest and most exciting yet. We will share more about this special event in our next newsletter!

Soft Drink Cans:Strong and Growing in 1996

oft drink cans are the most dominant of all beverage packaging in all markets, preferred by customers and consumers alike for a wide variety of reasons. They chill faster, stack better, hold carbonation longer, have better shelf appeal, and promote well in all outlets -- providing the industry's customers with compelling reasons to package soft drinks in aluminum cans. Consumers like cans for similar reasons -- their convenience, their chill-ability, their recyclability, and their shelf appeal. In short, the can is the premier beverage package, meeting a wide range of needs in an increasingly diverse beverage world.

No one can doubt that soft drink cans are facing increased competition in many channels. Yet soft drink can share grew last year at a significant pace in all retail markets where beverages are sold. In fact, soft drink cans continue to hold between 50 and 75 percent of the package mix in all retail outlets. Retail Beverage Can Sales Soar!
CMI's year-end data shows an increase in soft drink can shipments of three percent -- but this is only a small part of the story. A.C. Nielsen scan data illustrates how those cans compete in the major retail outlets -- supermarkets, convenience stores, drug stores and mass merchandisers. Nielsen reports that in 1996, soft drink cans held 74.8 percent of the package mix in those combined markets (Figure 1). In fact, can share of the soft drink market grew one percent last year, while the main competition -- PET packaging -- grew 0.5 percent and glass packaging lost 1.6 percent of its share of the mix (Figure 3).

Consumers buy a large portion of all soft drinks at the supermarket -- and Nielsen reports aluminum beverage can share in that outlet is more than 81 percent, growing almost one percent in the last year (Figure 2).

In convenience stores, conventional wisdom maintains that soft drinks sold in beverage cans have all but disappeared. While you may see fewer single-serve canned soft drinks in the cold vault, multi-pack sales continue to thrive and account for about 48 percent of all soft drink sales in convenience stores (Figure 4).

In the final two markets -- drug stores and mass merchandisers -- beverage cans are holding strong and growing. Multi-packed cans account for 77 percent of all soft drink sales in the drug store (Figure 5), and some 83 percent of all soft drink sales in mass merchandise outlets (Figure 6).

Multi-packed beverage cans are the volume driver of the soft drink industry. Multi-packs are growing at a significant rate and are ensuring that the aluminum beverage can will maintain a significant presence in the soft drink industry for years to come (Figure 7).

Consumers Vote Yes for Aluminum Cans

"Most of those surveyed think of aluminum cans first when they think of beverage packaging."

here is good news for the aluminum beverage can industry in consumer surveys commissioned by the Can Manufacturers Institute last year.

Results of numerous in-depth consumer interviews and an extensive national telephone survey, both conducted by AccuData Market Research, Inc., clearly underscore America's thirst for beverages in cans. Consumers pointed out the many benefits of beverage cans, including:

• Most of those surveyed think of aluminum cans first when they think of beverage packaging (Figure 1 & Figure 2). In situations where convenience is an issue, aluminum cans were preferred by a vast majority of respondents for ease of conveyance as well as less spillage and breakage.
• Ease of storage, whether at home or on the road, also was important to those surveyed. Here again, aluminum beverage cans finished first, particularly among women. This is because of the can's compact design, which allows for easy stacking and carrying.
• Consumers believe aluminum cans are best at maintaining carbonation, keeping beverages fresher, longer.
• Consumers consider aluminum cans to be best for keeping beverages cold, another element in delivering better-tasting beverages.
• Many believe beverages in cans are a "better buy" than other packages.
• Cans were cited as having better graphics and being more appealing on the grocery store shelf.
• Soft drink and beer purchasers say they choose aluminum cans because of their size, ease of recycling, safety and cost.