Carnival Cruise Line Partners With Bacardi and ecoSPIRITS To Minimize Single-Use Glass Consumption

Carnival Cruise Line has joined forces with ecoSPIRITS and Bacardi to implement a closed-loop packaging system to decrease the amount of single-use packaging on its ships.

“As we continue to work towards our sustainability goals, the collaborative work of our beverage team, ecoSPIRITS and Bacardi is a great example of thinking in ways that are truly out-of-the-box, or in this case – out-of-the-bottle, to develop new partnerships and practices that further our ongoing efforts,” said Zachary Sulkes, senior director of beverage operations at Carnival Cruise Line.

MORE ABOUT THE COLLABORATION

• By utilizing reusable containers made by ecoSPIRITS to serve BACARDĺ® rum, the three organizations will test the effectiveness of this approach on three Carnival ships leaving from Miami: Carnival Celebration, Carnival Horizon, and Carnival Sunrise. 
• ecoSPIRITS has created a tailored version of its ecoTOTE™ 3.0SC Cruise Edition, which utilizes eco-friendly, closed-loop glass packaging designed for the maritime environment.
• Each ecoTOTE can replace four bottles of BACARDĺ Superior rum and can be used up to 100 times after being cleaned and refilled, creating a sustainable closed-loop system.
• BACARDĺ Superior rum was explicitly selected for the pilot program, as it is one of the most popular spirits served on Carnival ships and a key ingredient in several popular craft cocktails. 
• The rum will be transferred from the ecoTOTE containers to the serving format using ecoSPIRITS’ SmartPour™ technology. 
• Select bars on the three Carnival ships will be equipped with BACARDĺ-branded SmartPours in silver and red for beverage team members to serve signature cocktails featuring BACARDĺ Superior rum.
• In addition to reducing single-use packaging, the collaboration between the three companies also supports the ecoSPIRITS Oceans Program.
•  For each ecoTOTE used in the pilot, a donation will be made to fund the removal of over two pounds of single-use plastic, glass, and other harmful wastes from endangered marine environments.
• The three-month trial aims to reduce single-use packaging by 95%!

“As we strive to become the most environmentally responsible global spirits company, we are continuously looking for opportunities to deliver our beautiful drinks in more sustainable packaging and formats, helping us build to a greener future,” said Rodolfo Nervi, Vice President, Global Safety, Quality & Sustainability for Bacardi. “Innovating in closed loop packaging has been a top priority for us for a number of years, so launching our very first ecoTOTE for BACARDĺ rum on a Carnival cruise ship and seeing the doors this trial will open, is an incredibly exciting step forwards in that journey.”

Carnival Cruise Line currently recycles single-use glass products, with dedicated recycling centers on each ship in the fleet. Onboard crew members are responsible for sorting paper, plastic, and glass recyclables. In 2020 alone, Carnival recycled over 11 million pounds of these materials.

“We are extremely proud to be working with both Bacardi and Carnival on this industry first for the cruise sector. Working with forward-thinking partners like this strengthens our collective focus on sustainable practices and our shared goal to eventually eliminate packaging waste across the industry,” said Zdenek Kastanek, Managing Director, ecoSPIRITS USA. “We could not be more delighted to be welcoming Bacardi to our portfolio of Climate Partners and, by launching in ecoTOTE format for the first-time onboard Carnival’s ships, it will send a clear message that circular packaging is the most sustainable solution for the cruise industry.”