Of bottles, alternatives and all things packaging
(3 min read)
At SWR, we are pretty proud of our Bottle Weight Accord. Not that we have really done anything: it is the signatory companies who have done the hard yards to reduce bottle weights. However, the impact has been significant. We are still totting up the figures for its third anniversary but it looks like the Accord has prevented the emission of more than half a million tonnes of carbon and, were all those emissions to have been subject to UK EPR levies, members have saved more than £70 million.
The current iteration of the Accord ends this December, so the question we have been considering is, where do we go next? To do that, we have focused on a central question: how can we maximise impact?
What that led us to was the realisation that setting a new, lighter target weight was probably not the way to go. The way to get maximum impact from lightweighting wine bottles is not to have a smaller group of wines in even lighter bottles, but to increase the number of wines in bottles around the current target of 420g. Therefore, the proposed target for the next phase of the Bottle Weight Accord is for 25% of global still wine to be sold in lightweight bottles by the end of 2028.
This means that our work moving forward will be focused on developing a set of tools to help more companies take the lightweighting journey. This will include a ‘how to’ guide for smaller producers, and databases both of lightweight bottles, and wines in light bottles. Moreover, availability of lighter weight bottles in different regions is an important factor. Some markets have better access than others, and it would be illogical to insist on use of light weight bottles if these had to be imported over significant distances. Mapping availability will also be a key next step.
It will also be important for us to move beyond lightweighting alone, and consider the other aspects of a bottle’s carbon impact. The fuel mix used in the furnace where glass bottles are made varies significantly, and the amount of cullet (recycled material) used will have a considerable impact on the carbon embedded in any given bottle.
However, we always said that work on glass bottles was only a starting point. As a result, over the past few months, we have been working on a significant piece of work, alongside Wine Australia, examining the sustainability credentials of other forms of packaging. What has been, perhaps, the most interesting finding of this research is that, sustainable packaging choices need to consider much more than simply the LCA-related factors such as carbon emissions and plastic pollution. Any packaging choice decision will be deficient which does not also take account of issues such as relative recycling rates of destination markets, changing regulatory requirements, customer perception and a range of other factors.
This research will be released early in the new year, and we will use it as the basis for a new tool. The Packaging Choice Tool will be aimed at anyone in the wine supply chain who needs an evidence-based decision framework to look rationally, and in an informed fashion, at the various packaging options open to them.
Which brings us to, perhaps the most interesting point of all this. Yes, packaging choices are hugely important in managing the sustainability of wine as a product. However, all the research we have done suggests strongly that these choices could be a valuable tool in driving wine sales.
Different formats, and different sizes have the potential to bring wine to new types of customers, and offer to existing customers more flexible options as to how they consume their wine. For example, those seeking to reduce consumption may buy a single serve format where they would not buy a 750ml bottle; cans are more convenient for traveling; and paper bottles or bag-in-box would allow wine to be sold in venues where glass is not an option.
All of this, of course, is in addition to the fact that lighter bottles, and other packaging types bring significant cost reductions as EPR regimes are introduced in Europe and elsewhere.
Packaging is unlikely ever to be a ‘sexy’ subject. But whether one is interested in the sustainability of wine, or the ability of the sector to maximise optimise sales and save costs, it will remain a subject of key importance.
