Thank you for considering me for the International Society of Beverage Technologists Scholarship. I am honored and extremely grateful that my interest in the field of Beverage Packaging has been noticed and found worthy of this nomination. My name is Will Bailey, and I am currently in my senior year at Michigan State University studying packaging with a minor in beverage science. My interest in beverage packaging came together two years ago when I found myself not enjoying the path of study I was on and, at that same time, my dad and I started fermenting our own hard ciders in our basement for fun. Before this endeavor, I often overlooked the complexities of beverage packaging and the fun, yet high quality graphics, used on bottles across the fermented, carbonated, and distilled beverages industry. Even rather simple bottles can have some extremely interesting features. After starting this endeavor, the potential for creativity in the design of graphics and bottle shapes opened a whole new world of passion for me.

I was fortunate to be able to participate in the Packaging in England study abroad program offered by the Michigan State School of Packaging over the summer semester of 2022. On this trip, my world was opened even wider when I was able to visit several bottle manufactures and beverage bottling companies. At these company visits, I was able to have numerous questions answered on the complexities involved with meeting sustainability initiatives set forth by governments and the packaging industry while maintaining the capacity and function of high-speed filling and sealing packaging lines. My interest in the sustainability aspect of beverage packaging was further enhanced by these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and the ability to visit grocery stores within the foreign countries I visited, seeing various designs/ideas on the packaging of beverages that are not available in the stores I use at home.

These experiences have opened up the belief in me that there are tons of designs that can be utilized to research and improve the styles of packaging systems currently implemented within the Beverage industry while still maintaining the fun graphics, branding, and creativity which initially drew me towards beverage packaging. An example of this belief includes the Carlsberg Danish Pilsener can 4-pack system. I gave a presentation on this packaging strategy as my final project for the study abroad trip, and I have attached an image of this packaging system below for reference. This strategy is particularly interesting because the system completely avoids the use of a corrugated or plastic binding structure instead utilizing silicon-based adhesive between the cans and an 18-inch-long strip of plastic with adhesive at both ends taped to two cans to function as a carrying handle. This packaging strategy maintains all the functions expected out of a multi-pack beverage packaging system while also being extremely light-weighted and avoiding unnecessary additional packaging.

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