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Sainsbury's is introducing lightweight and recyclable plastic bottles for some of its wines in a project supported by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap).

The supermarket said the 75cl PET bottles, made by Amcor PET Packaging in Wrexham, with the barrier under licence from Constar, weighed only 54g compared with 400g for standard bottles.

The PET bottles are also filled in the UK, at Corby Bottlers, rather than at source, meaning twice the amount of wine can be transported per container.

Sainsbury's said this was the first time PET had been used for a traditionally shaped wine bottle in the UK.

The supermarket is initially using the PET bottle for a £4.99 New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and a £3.99 Australian Rosé.

Wolf Blass Green Label Chardonnay and Cabernet Shiraz, both at £7.49, will also be sold in plastic bottles from mid-August.

By moving its wine bottles from glass to PET, Sainsbury's said it could make a major contribution towards its target to reduce emissions by 25% over the next five years.

Wrap said the UK consumed one billion bottles of wine a year, using 500,000 tonnes of glass. Reducing the weight of all glass wine bottles could cut carbon emissions by 90,000 tonnes.