Quebec, Canada-based packaging specialist Solucan will take delivery of the world’s first Cyclone later this month and plans to use the kit to produce millions of unique customised cans.

The company said the purchase supports the craft brewers and other beverage manufacturers in the region. There is currently pressure to increase packaging sustainability in Quebec and the provincial recycling body Recyc-Québec is enforcing new environmental regulations.

The plastic shrink-sleeves and pressure-sensitive labels currently used for short-run beverage can decoration have a high environmental impact and will become obsolete when new standards are enforced. Cans produced using the Tonejet Cyclone system are 100% recyclable.

“We are focused on offering a cost-effective, environmentally friendly solution to our customers and to theirs,” said Solucan president Sebastien Baril.

“The government is looking for a recyclable solution and we have their support towards a better canning solution for the industry.

“Currently, beverage producers wanting to avoid labels have to purchase from the major can manufacturers, whose minimum quantities are far too large for any microbrewer or craft beer producer that we are working with.

“With the Cyclone, these issues are addressed; the system allows us to keep up with changing consumer habits, transforming packaging as we know it.”

Solucan general manager Francois Gaudreault added: “We are now able to transform a beverage can into a totally digital portal.

“Linking packaging to the digital world, accessible via your smartphone or laptop, is a total game-changer and provides a powerful marketing tool. In addition to using the space to promote events, marketing promotions, etc, you can include codes to link to augmented reality apps and even invisible codes and water marking.”

Tonejet chief executive Rob Day said the kit will also enable Solucan to “save on material costs, minimise lead times and achieve better quality than with labels”.

Earlier this year Hertfordshire-based Tonejet opened a new, additional facility to enable it to ramp up manufacturing for the Cyclone, which uses Tonejet’s electrostatic drop-on-demand printhead.