It’s estimated that 8 million metric tonnes of plastic enter the world’s oceans each year.
Canada has the longest ocean coastline in the world and is home to thousands of lakes and rivers, with 20 percent of the world’s freshwater supply. Corona Canada will dedicate its entire summer to protect paradise from marine plastic pollution. As part of the global Corona x Parley initiative, Canada will join eight other countries, including Mexico, Brazil, United Kingdom, Italy and Spain in the effort.
“The pristine beaches long associated with Corona are at risk. Marine plastic pollution is a well-documented urgent threat to our shoreline paradise, which is why we decided to dedicate our busiest season with a pledge to address this crisis,” said Todd Allen, vice president, marketing, Labatt Breweries of Canada.
As part of Corona’s global partnership with Parley for the Oceans, an organization dedicated to addressing threats toward the world’s oceans, Corona seeks to enable Canadians this summer, in a variety of ways to be part of a global movement. This begins with co-hosting a Walrus Talks expert panel discussion in Toronto, with the goal of making Canadians aware of this urgent crisis and explaining how they have the power to make a difference.
This summer, for every specially marked Corona case sold in Canada, and for every bucket of Corona sold in participating bars and restaurants, one square meter of Canadian shoreline will be cleaned, with the goal of cleaning 850,000 square meters this summer.
Corona and Parley for the Oceans have partnered to clean up Canada’s shorelines, encouraging Canadians to get involved in the 50 beach clean-ups happening from coast to coast throughout the summer, including five elevated beach clean-up experiences in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Halifax. At these experiences, Corona will be turning plastic waste into payment at the ‘Pay with Plastic’ Beach Bar. Beach clean-up volunteers will be instantly rewarded for protecting paradise as they hand-in a piece of plastic or debris collected. Corona and Parley for the Oceans are not only ensuring the plastic received is upcycled and given a second life, but also taking the opportunity to incentivize participants to avoid plastic altogether with educational messaging on-site.
Starting in October 2019, Corona is replacing all plastic packaging on its cans on Canadian store shelves with new compostable cardboard packaging. This will reduce a substantial amount of single-use plastic, as Canada is the second largest consumption market of Corona beer cans (Mexico is the first.) In 2018, Corona tested 100 percent plastic-free six pack rings in Mexico, the first global beer brand to do so.
Published in the July 2019 Edition