Following a successful pilot, Carnival Cruise Line and Bacardi Limited have expanded its partnership with ecoSPIRITS to bring closed loop spirits packaging on board more ships.
The pilot collaboration – which was first announced in August 2023 – delivered Bacardi Superior rum to three Carnival ships in ecoSPIRITS’ ecoTOTE format, in an effort to reduce single use glass waste in the tourism and hospitality segment.
The three ships are Carnival Celebration, Carnival Horizon and Carnival Sunrise.
Now, closed loop spirits packaging will be introduced to an additional ship operating out of the Port of Miami, Carnival Magic. ecoSPIRITS is also collaborating with Carnival to develop new extensions to its core technology to support high volume cruise beverage operations.
Bacardi Superior is one of the most ordered spirits across Carnival’s fleet. More vessels from other cruise ports in the United States are expected to join later in 2024.
During the pilot phase, which ran from late August 2023 through the end of March 2024, the program saved tens of thousands of single use glass bottles from being produced. In total, the pilot eliminated more than 38,000 pounds of packaging waste, while also funding the recovery of more than 6,000 pounds of ocean waste from endangered marine environments as part of the ecoSPIRITS Oceans Program.
The companies note that delivering Carnival’s most popular onboard rum in ecoTOTE format eliminated 95% of the packaging waste when compared with traditional glass bottles. The system also represents a more efficient way of delivering spirits to the cruise ships, saving both weight and space onboard.
To support expanded deployment of its circular packaging technology in the cruise environment, ecoSPIRITS has developed a new version of its SmartPour technology, tailored to the specific demands of onboard beverage operations. The new SmartPour™ SHV 1.0S is a bottle refilling unit developed in consultation with Carnival and Bacardi to make back-of-house operations even more efficient. This latest SmartPour can refill spirits bottles faster than the SmartPour 2.0S refilling solutions deployed during the pilot collaboration.
The SmartPour SHV 1.0S joins the ecoTOTE 3.0SC, a special version of the award-winning ecoTOTE, which was also developed in consultation with Carnival to meet the unique requirements of the onboard beverage operations.
“Our collaboration with Bacardi and ecoSPIRITS is making a clear, significant impact on Carnival Celebration, Carnival Horizon and Carnival Sunrise,” says Zachary Sulkes, Associate Vice President of Beverage Operations, Carnival Cruise Line.
“The ecoTOTE format has helped us serve the delicious cocktails our bar staff craft with Bacardi Superior that our guests love – without about 35,000 glass bottles that would have otherwise been used for transportation to our ships’ bars and then processed in our onboard recycling centers. As we continue to expand this innovative program, we are setting a new standard for beverage operations across the cruise industry and reinforcing our shared commitment to the environment,” says Sulkes.
“The cruise line sector has been on our radar in terms of waste saving potential for several years. It is even more exciting to see ecoSPIRITS, Carnival Cruise Line and Bacardi clearly showing that circular is the way forward for spirits in this industry. We are delighted that Carnival is now expanding the use of ecoSPIRITS, taking Bacardi Superior in ecoTOTE format to a wider fleet within the Miami hub and adding other Florida ports later this year. Ultimately this shared success means ecoSPIRITS is now an option for a wider audience as we work towards eliminating single use glass waste in this sector globally,” says Zdenek Kastanek, Managing Director, ecoSPIRITS USA.
