Beverage manufacturers face mounting pressure to meet ambitious sustainability targets. Between 2030 and 2050, a raft of regulatory changes is set to come into force, including the EU DPP (Digital Product Passport) and CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) for waste reduction, circularity, and transparency, PPWR (Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation), and national DRS (Deposit Return Schemes). Alongside this regulatory change for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategies, both retailers and regulators are demanding greater transparency and traceability across supply chains, intensifying the need for precise, accessible product data.

Yet strategic sustainability ambitions often collide with operational reality. High-speed production lines, running at up to 120,000 cans per hour, leave little room for error or additional processes. At this scale, even the smallest problems or yield issues quickly spiral into high costs. Mislabelling and rogue products can trigger costly recalls, quarantines, and contingency budgets that run into millions.

As a result, it is no surprise that plant teams remain cautious about even small adjustments to tried-and-tested, efficient processes. The challenge is to determine the best way to transition to a more sustainable, traceable, and transparent model while ensuring the accuracy and efficiency required for high-speed beverage production.

How GS1 2D Codes Cut Waste, Prevent Errors, and Strengthen Traceability 

2D codes powered by GS1 are emerging as a game-changer for beverage production. Used in conjunction with a high-speed vision system, GS1 codes provide greater manufacturing traceability, allowing faults to be eliminated more quickly, reducing the cost of errors, and preventing rogue products from reaching consumers. This will not only prevent damage to brand reputation but also reduce rework and recall costs and support sustainability objectives by minimizing waste. Complete, end-to-end traceability throughout a product’s lifespan also supports global (DRS) requirements, enabling beverage companies to quickly respond to different schemes without incurring additional costs. Furthermore, with the majority of countries now accepting online recycling identification information, the ability to remove this information from the pack and store it in the cloud can streamline compliance with local recycling identification demands.

Boosting Flexibility and Multi-Market Compliance

Beyond traceability, 2D codes introduce far greater agility in managing multi-market compliance. Dynamic, data-linked codes allow organizations to share detailed ingredient or regulatory information digitally rather than on-pack. This relieves the real estate pressures on packaging, reduces the need for market-specific artwork, and helps streamline SKUs – supporting more sustainable production and packaging operations. The adoption of integrated solutions, including Beverage Empty Can Coding Systems (BECCS), delivers further benefits. By combining coding, vision, and data management in a unified solution, beverage companies can further enhance sustainability by preventing the filling of faulty or incorrect cans and preventing wasted product. By improving coding quality to enhance yield and line efficiency, beverage manufacturers can gain measurable performance improvements whilst also meeting strategic ESG objectives.

Driving Consumer Engagement, Brand Protection, and Accessible Information

2D codes also unlock powerful opportunities for consumer engagement and data-driven insights. Dynamic QR codes are inspiring innovative promotional activity as companies tap into new opportunities for loyalty programs, gamification, and personalized content. This new level of engagement is creating deeper connections with consumers and providing companies with new data on consumption patterns, geographic trends, and product lifecycle. With every scan, companies gain new insights into consumption and consumer behaviour, enabling better decision-making.

Critically, the adoption of new processes enabled by 2D codes enables enhanced engagement at a lower cost than current models. Promotions can be moved into the cloud, allowing the company to improve customer engagement without requiring expensive, non-standard runs. Successful promotions can be extended remotely with zero changes to the production line, while less successful activities can be swiftly removed, minimizing any business impact.

The benefits continue. Serialization strengthens brand protection against counterfeiting, a problem now estimated to be worth around £1.2 billion globally in alcoholic drinks alone, according to a report by the OECD and the EU’s Intellectual Property Office. Furthermore, dynamic 2D codes can support companies’ inclusivity objectives. Visually impaired customers can use innovative technologies such as NaviLens, which uses a mobile phone to scan supermarket aisles for specific products, including by size and flavour. A similar approach can be used to flag allergy information, helping customers avoid products they cannot safely tolerate. Again, any changes or updates to such information can be made in the cloud-based information linked to the 2D code, eliminating the need for product recalls.

Conclusion

2D codes are the foundation for a more efficient, sustainable, and digitally-enabled beverage supply chain. However, timing is critical. With GS1 working hard to ensure 1D barcodes are eradicated by 2027/2028, manufacturers should begin developing a transition strategy now. Missing compliance deadlines and relying on last-minute retrofits are not only costly but also add enormous operational risk. There are significant opportunity costs when innovative brands step in and gain market share – particularly with retailers already investing in technology to support 2D codes. At the same time, businesses face limitations and rising costs due to systems that cannot meet future requirements. How long can the business afford to delay? What is the potential impact on brand reputation when the rest of the market is achieving the next level in customer engagement?

Successful transitions require clear timelines and a deep understanding of both strategic opportunities and operational implications. While every beverage manufacturer will prioritize these drivers differently, the commercial and environmental opportunities of early adoption are tangible. Companies gain an industry-leading position. They also lay the foundation for a more sustainable operating model that leverages digital capabilities to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive, rapidly evolving market.