Earthrings | Plastic-Free Cardboard Can Carrier Packaging

Earthrings | Plastic-Free Cardboard Can Carrier Packaging

Industrial Packing

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 9 – Industry Innovation and Infrastructure

Company Overview

Earthrings is a manufacturer of plastic-free beverage packaging, producing cardboard can carrier rings and the applicator machinery used to attach them during bottling and canning operations. The company designs its rings to replace traditional plastic multipack rings with a curbside recyclable, home compostable cardboard alternative coated in a biodegradable, moisture-resistant formula.

The company operates as a brand under parent company Promac, Inc., a Chicago area business that has served the beverage industry for more than four decades. Earthrings itself opened operations in Elgin, Illinois in late 2024 and registered its trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in November 2024. Its go-to-market team also draws on Repac Products, a longtime supplier of beverage packaging equipment, and on staff who previously worked under the MUMM Products and Helio-Pack names serving craft breweries.

Earthrings ships its can carrier rings and applicator equipment to brewery and beverage customers in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean. Product configurations include four, six, and eight pack cardboard ring carriers, alongside a range of hand, low-speed, and high-speed applicator machines built to fit production lines from small craft operations to higher-volume bottling and canning plants.

Earthrings has also partnered with Greenspark, a sustainability tracking platform, committing to fund the planting of one tree for every five cases of product sold.

Why These SDGs Matter

Earthrings’ work connects to SDG 9 because the company has engineered a new packaging material and a line of purpose-built applicator machinery, representing product and process innovation within the beverage manufacturing supply chain. Its multi-year development process, including collaboration with cardboard manufacturers and field testing of both the ring material and application equipment, reflects the kind of industrial innovation the goal is intended to encourage.

SDG 12 is directly relevant because Earthrings’ core product substitutes a single-use plastic item, the plastic can carrier ring, with a cardboard alternative designed to be recycled curbside or composted at home. This shifts a common consumer packaging format away from persistent plastic waste and toward a more circular, biodegradable material stream, which is a direct contribution to more responsible production and consumption patterns in the beverage packaging sector.

Products & Services
  • 4-pack cardboard can carrier rings
  • 4-pack sleek cardboard can carrier rings
  • 6-pack cardboard can carrier rings
  • 6-pack sleek cardboard can carrier rings
  • 8-pack cardboard can carrier rings
  • CB Mini 6-Packer hand applicator
  • CB350 low-speed ring applicator (approx. 150 cans/minute)
  • CB450 high-speed ring applicator (approx. 300 cans/minute)
  • CB-24 mobile case packer
  • CB300 cardboard ring applicator
Business Challenges Solved
  • Reliance on plastic multipack rings facing regulatory bans in some jurisdictions
  • Cardboard packaging alternatives that historically failed under moisture exposure
  • High per-unit cost of plastic-free packaging alternatives
  • Manual, labor-intensive application of reusable plastic ring carriers
  • Need for curbside recyclable and home compostable multipack packaging
  • Matching packaging line speed to higher-volume canning operations
Approach & Methodology

Earthrings’ product development centers on re-engineering cardboard as a moisture-resistant substitute for plastic can carrier rings. The company describes applying a biodegradable coating to cardboard stock so the material can withstand the condensation and handling conditions a beverage multipack encounters, while remaining curbside recyclable and home compostable at end of life. According to the company, this development process involved roughly 14 months of work with cardboard manufacturers, along with collaboration with beverage industry printers and die cutters, before arriving at a production-ready ring design.

Alongside the ring product itself, Earthrings engineers and manufactures a line of applicator machines, ranging from hand-operated tools to high-speed automated systems, so that breweries and beverage producers of different scales can integrate the rings into existing packaging lines. The company positions its lower-speed and mobile applicator options for smaller craft operations and its high-speed systems for larger-volume canning lines.

Product durability is assessed through physical testing rather than only laboratory specification, including drop testing and exposure to condensation under real handling conditions, an approach the company and its customers have used to evaluate how the rings and applicators perform before adoption. Earthrings’ team, which has prior experience in the beverage packaging sector under the MUMM Products and Helio-Pack names, applies this same field-testing approach in working directly with brewery customers to fit machinery to a given production environment.

Market Position

Earthrings operates as a startup packaging manufacturer within the craft and mid-size beverage industry, competing against both traditional plastic can carrier suppliers, such as reusable plastic ring producer PakTech, and standard paperboard beverage cartons. Its primary customers are craft breweries and beverage producers seeking plastic-free multipack packaging, in some cases prompted by regulatory restrictions on plastic ring carriers in certain markets.

The company positions its cardboard rings as a lower-cost alternative to other plastic-free packaging formats and to plastic carriers, and offers a range of applicator machinery intended to serve production lines from small hand-applied setups to higher-speed automated canning operations. Earthrings’ customer base has included both small breweries and larger commercial accounts, alongside consumer goods and retail companies referenced by its parent company, Promac.

Procurement Considerations
  • Confirm ring durability and moisture resistance under the buyer’s specific storage and distribution conditions
  • Verify compatibility of applicator machinery with existing canning or bottling line speeds
  • Assess whether a hand, low-speed, or high-speed applicator model fits current and projected production volume
  • Confirm local curbside recycling and home composting acceptance for the cardboard ring material in the buyer’s distribution markets
  • Compare per-unit packaging cost against incumbent plastic or cardboard carton alternatives
  • Evaluate machine maintenance and service support availability for the buyer’s region
  • Request product samples and, where available, a loaner applicator for on-site testing before commitment
Natnavi Analysis

Earthrings addresses a narrow but persistent packaging problem: how to bundle beverage cans without single-use plastic rings, which face growing regulatory restriction due to their environmental and wildlife impact, while still holding up to the physical demands of shipping, retail handling, and consumer use. The company’s approach, reinforced cardboard with a biodegradable moisture-resistant coating, is not a novel material category, but its combination with purpose-built applicator machinery across multiple production speeds addresses a practical adoption barrier that has limited cardboard alternatives in the past: production line compatibility.

As a company that opened operations only in late 2024, Earthrings is early in its commercial history, and its footprint so far appears concentrated among craft and mid-size breweries in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean rather than large multinational beverage producers. Its backing by Promac, a packaging and machinery business with over four decades of beverage industry experience, provides technical and commercial continuity that many packaging startups lack.

For procurement teams evaluating plastic-free multipack options, Earthrings represents a genuine alternative worth testing against incumbent products such as reusable plastic carriers and standard paperboard cartons, particularly where curbside recyclability or home compostability is a stated packaging goal. As with any recently launched supplier, buyers should independently verify performance claims and production capacity against their own volume and durability requirements.

Sources & References
Website
Founded: 2024 (Earthrings brand launch); parent company Promac, Inc. has operated in the beverage industry for over 40 years.
Company Stage: Startup
Headquarters
Elgin, Illinois, United States (with an additional operations office in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada)
Geographic Presence
Earthrings manufactures and ships its can carrier rings and applicator equipment from Elgin, Illinois, with an additional operations office in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. The company supplies craft and mid-size breweries and beverage producers across the United States and Canada, and has also shipped product to customers in the Caribbean.
Solution Type
Equipment Supplier, Service Provider
Sustainability Outcomes
Circular Economy, Waste Reduction
Industries Served
Agriculture & Food

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