The Sustainable Wine Roundtable welcomes three new companies to the Bottle Weight Accord (BWA)
- Australia’s Accolade Wines and Albert Heijn, Netherland’s largest supermarket group, along with South African winery Botanica Wines are the latest signatories to the accord
- The accord now covers more than 1.5 billion bottles of wine worldwide, with an average saving of 96g of CO2 per bottle
The Sustainable Wine Roundtable (SWR) are very pleased to announce three important new signatories to the SWR Bottle Weight Accord (BWA). Accolade Wines and Albert Heijn, major winery and supermarket group respectively, join with boutique Stellenbosch winery Botanica Wines in committing to lowering the average bottle weight of their wine ranges to 420g per 75cl bottle.
Accolade and Albert Heijn are the latest large businesses to sign up as we enter the second year of the BWA. Late in 2024, the Catena Institute of Wine, Vina Concha y Toro and Boutinot Wines all added their names to an impressive roster which includes Tesco, Endeavour Wines from Australia and the Systembolaget monopoly in Sweden. Botanica Wines occupy the opposite end of the size spectrum, with their award-winning wine range produced by self-taught winemaker Ginny Povall.
Ginny Povall explains her reasons for joining the BWA:
“As part of my commitment to being carbon-neutral, I discovered that tackling indirect Scope 3 carbon emissions from packaging had a bigger impact on reducing my carbon footprint than my substantial capital investments in our solar plant and electric vehicle. So I prioritized reduced bottle weights for all of my bottlings starting in 2023, and now 100% of wines bottled in 2024 are in lightweight bottles.
“My hopes in joining the Accord are to make more consumers aware of how big of an impact lightweight bottles have on a winery’s carbon footprint, and try to get support to push our local glass manufacturer to produce a lightweight option.”
Emma Gibson, Sustainability Manager at Accolade Wines, says
“Glass lightweighting has been an important focus for Accolade Wines since we began working on this initiative in 2022. We are keen to be a part of the Bottle Weight Accord and to share best practice within this important area and to understand how we can overcome the remaining hurdles.”
Barbara Houtzager, Sourcing Manager for Wine at Albert Heijn says
“The joining of the accord is important for Albert Heijn because it supports our sustainability strategy. More sustainable packaging is one of our goals, so the signing of the accord strengthens our strategy and helps us to reach lower bottle weights.”
Dr Peter Stanbury, Research Director for the SWR, welcomed the new signatories.
“We are absolutely delighted to welcome Botanica Wines, Accolade Wines, and Albert Heijn as new supporters of the SWR Bottle Weight Accord. The fact that we are able to announce three new members at once demonstrates that the Accord has now developed an irresistible momentum.”
Delaney Sheridan, Operations Manager at the SWR, agrees, adding
“The accord is really leading the way on coordinated efforts for more sustainable packaging. This kind of industry-wide collaboration is rare, and sets a strong example for other sectors.”
Next steps for the accord will be the reporting of members’ progress in attaining the 420g average weight for their ranges. We have developed reporting templates to streamline this process, and we’re also creating resources to help smaller producers such as Botanica Wines to source lighter weight glass, and to navigate reporting requirements.
About SWR
The Sustainable Wine Roundtable (SWR) is an independent global platform dedicated to advancing sustainability in the wine industry. A membership organisation with more than 130 members reflecting the whole wine supply, and operating globally, its role is to catalyse change in sustainability in the wine sector. This includes the Bottle Weight Accord, sustainable viticulture, labour standards and the SWR are currently developing a tool to allow comparison of the sustainability characteristics of different packaging formats.
About the Bottle Weight Accord
A key action area for the SWR is its Bottle Weight Accord (BWA), introduced in November 2023 in which partner companies commit to reducing the average bottle weight of still wines to 420g / 75cl. This accord now covers around 2 billion bottles across a wide variety of global businesses.
Participants include: Alko, Catena Institute of Wine, Endeavour Wines, Lidl GB, Naked Wines, Systembolaget, Terra Vitis, Tesco, Vina Concha y Toro, Whole Foods Market, The Wine Society.
For more information about the Sustainable Wine Roundtable, please contact ben@freerunpr or via +44 7876 835 752.
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Botanica Wines
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