A Danish beer maker expects to eliminate the use of millions of pounds of plastic each year by ditching the rings that hold six-packs together.

Carlsberg Breweries A/S is out with its new Snap Pack that uses glue to keep the cans together.

The brewer, based in Copenhagen, expects to save more than 1,300 tons of plastic each year by moving to glue.

The specially designed adhesive is strong enough to keep the cans together during shipment and handling, but designed to allow consumers to easily twist the cans apart for individual consumption.

"Carlsberg's Snap Pack will significantly reduce the amount of plastic waste, and we look forward to giving our consumers better beer experiences with less environmental impact," CEO Group CEO Cees 't Hart said in a statement.

The company said the Snap Pack took three years to perfect.

Moving to glue, which is recyclable as cans are captured after use, will reduce material use by the equivalent of 60 million plastic bags each year, the company said.

The new Snap Packs will first be used on the company's Carlsberg flagship brand of beer. This and other packaging changes involving glass bottles, will be reappraised and refined over time, the company said.

"This is an important day for Carlsberg. We are working hard to deliver on our ambitious sustainability agenda and to help tackle climate change," Hart said in the statement.

Carlsberg said it is working with Plastic Change and the World Wildlife Fund, two environmental groups, on its "sustainability ambitions."

To promote the new Snap Pack cans, the beer company created a new version of the famous Little Mermaid bronze statue in Copenhagen. The new version is made from Snap Cans and located near the original, which was commissioned by the son of the company's founder in 1909.

"Proving that sustainable packaging does not have to be a fairy tale, Snap Pack is the latest in a series of packaging innovations from Carlsberg," Carlsberg Sustainability Director Simon Boas Hoffmeyer said in a statement.

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