IBP NEWS
SIG LAUNCHES
WORLD’S-FIRST ALU LAYER-FREE
FULL BARRIER
SOLUTION SIG, THE PIONEER OF ASEPTIC CARTON PACKAGING WITHOUT
ALUMINIUM LAYER, ANNOUNCES THE COMMERCIAL LAUNCH
OF ANOTHER INDUSTRY-FIRST: SIG TERRA ALU-FREE + FULL
BARRIER FOR MULTI-SERVE ASEPTIC CARTONS.

St Austell Brewery Re-Brand
St Austell have undertaken this
journey whilst always respecting
and taking great pride in their rich
history but also embracing a shared
commitment to their ambitions for the
future and the generations to come.

The striking new visual identity draws
inspiration from their heartland and
6 heritage. The iconic castle has been
positively evolved, and they changed the
distinctive black and gold into a more
modern palette of deep blue inspired by
the coastline and warm copper.

The castle symbol (which first
appeared as part of founder Walter
Hicks’ family coat of arms) is the
enduring emblem. The castle has been
part of the St Austell Brewery branding
Building on the success of this
groundbreaking packaging material
innovation in the field of single-serve
cartons with over 300m packs sold in
China since 2023 SIG is scaling up the
world’s first, aluminium-layer-free
full-barrier packaging material to
multi-serve aseptic cartons and ready
to provide it at scale to customers
around the globe.

The packaging structure for multi-
serve cartons with no aluminium
layer cuts the carbon footprint of
SIG’s standard aseptic cartons by up
to 61% when combined with forest-
in some form since the 1950s. In the
new evolved identity, the castle remains
at the heart of the brand; it has been
reworked in a more contemporary way
and reproduced in copper a colour
inspired by our natural surroundings
and the brewing process.

Today marks the digital rollout
of our new branding. The physical
branding will change over a planned
INTERNATIONAL BOTTLER & PACKER | JULY 2025



NEWS
The packaging material offers the same
full barrier protection as standard
aseptic cartons and the same full
shelf life of up to 12 months. It can
seamlessly run on existing SIG carton
filling lines with full performance
including high-speed of up to 24,000
p.p.h. on SIG filling lines for small-
size cartons and up to 15,000 p.p.h. on
filling lines for multi-serve cartons with
only minor, low-cost adaptations. The
plug-and-play solution is enabling SIG
customers worldwide to make use of
the additional environmental benefits
that come with the alu layer-free full
barrier packaging material suitable
for a wide range of beverages without
compromising product quality or
production performance.

“At SIG, we are leading the industry
transition to alu-layer-free aseptic
carton packaging materials. With
our full barrier material with no
aluminium layer, we are offering
a powerful differentiator and
embodiment of sustainability in aseptic
carton packaging, unlocking new
opportunities for packaging sensitive
product categories such as plant-
based products, juices, and nutritional
beverages. As a result, our SIG Terra
portfolio now offers an aseptic
carton solution without aluminium
layer for all product categories we
serve, without compromising on
shelf life,” said Christoph Wegener,
Chief Markets Officer at SIG.

Decarbonizing the food and beverage
industry is more important than ever.

In aseptic cartons, an aluminium layer
is traditionally used to protect food and
beverage products from oxygen and
light. Although aluminium accounts for
just around 5% of a standard aseptic
carton, it accounts for up to 25% of
its carbon footprint in a full-barrier
package. Removing the aluminium
layer is a significant step in reducing
the already low carbon footprint of
standard SIG aseptic cartons even
further and simplifies the packaging
structure from three to just two main
raw materials, thereby increasing the
share of paper to over 80%.

SIG is the pioneer in its industry
and introduced a packaging material
without an aluminium layer for aseptic
cartons in 2010: SIG Terra Alu-free
– developed for plain liquid dairy
products. Drawing on its extensive
knowledge and experience with alu-
layer-free structures and building
on the success of SIG Terra Alu-free,
the company has continued to grow
its aluminium-layer-free aseptic
carton portfolio – with every solution
reducing the already low carbon
period of time and over several months
and beyond. They want to manage
the changeover sustainably through
carefully phased implementation and
a firm commitment to repurposing or
recycling materials.

Naturally, with over 160 pubs,
and decades of signage and branded
materials across the region, you’ll
still see a lot of our previous look
and signage for months (and years)
to come. That’s due both to the sheer
scale of the project and our continued
commitment to sustainability. As
such, they only update vehicles in the
fleet when they are due for renewal,
beer packaging when it runs out, and
pub signage will only be replaced
when necessary or as part of planned
refurbishment work.

based polymers. Made of more than
80% paper, the material simplifies the
packaging structure to only two main
raw materials, that can all be linked to
renewable sources.

Performance and Compatibility
VISIT OUR WEBSITE | www.binstedgroup.com
footprint of standard SIG aseptic
cartons even further. With SIG Terra
Alu-free + Full barrier SIG expanded
the alu layer-free options for wider
use with oxygen-sensitive products
such as fruit juices, nectars, flavoured
milk or plant-based beverages. SIG
aims to roll out SIG Terra Alu-free
+ Full barrier to all flagship aseptic
carton formats, both small-size and
multi-serve, suitable for all beverage
and dairy categories step by step.

Since launching the first alu-layer-
free aseptic carton in 2010, SIG has
sold over 4bn packs featuring no
aluminium layer, including 300 million
alu-free full-barrier cartons. These
milestones reinforce SIG’s leadership
in sustainable aseptic packaging.

Gavin Steiner, Chief Technology
Officer at SIG, said, “Sustainability
is integral to our business, and we
strive to create a regenerative food
packaging system. Looking ahead,
SIG plans to raise the paper content
in its aseptic cartons to at least 90%
including closures by 2030, with an
interim target of 85% without closure
this year further boosting renewability,
lowering carbon footprints, and
with the potential to streamline
the recycling process for aseptic
cartons, only requiring the separation
of paperboard and polymers.”
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