Sainsbury’s breaks out the bubbly with FSC cork switch

The supermarket giant has teamed up with Portuguese cork supplier Amorim for the move, which will begin with its Blanc de Noirs Champagne and will go on to include all wines, spirits and beers with cork closures by the end of 2010.

All corks will be stamped with the FSC logo, used on a wide variety of wood products to certify that the wood has been sourced from sustainably managed forests.

Sainsbury’s wine maker Barry Dick said: “Our shift to FSC-certified corks will make a huge difference, particularly when you consider that we sell more than 6m bottles sealed with cork closures every year.”

A statement from Amorim said that the move would make Sainsbury’s the world’s biggest consumer of FSC-certified cork.

Cork producers argue that the maintenance of their forests is particularly important to the environment as they stop the spread of the Sahara desert in north Africa, while in the Mediterranean they are home to rare species of wildlife such as the Iberian lynx.

Amorim Stopper Division chief executive Victor Ribeiro said: “The UK wine trade makes a vital contribution to the maintenance of this unique triple bottom-line balance between environmental, social and economic issues.

“Because 70% of the value-added income created by natural cork comes from its wine and champagne stopper application, the kind of leadership demonstrated by Sainsbury’s goes a long way to help support a more sustainable trade.”

FSC UK executive director Charles Thwaites said: “We hope Sainsbury’s example will tempt other companies to make similar commitments and together we will preserve these precious landscapes and habitats.”

FSC-certified material has made a large impact in the packaging world in recent months, in particular in the cartons market where Tetra Pak, Elopak and SIG Combibloc have been switching to FSC-certified boards.

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