News

The Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap) will unveil the findings of its Glassrite Wine project at next month's London International Wine Fair (LIWF).

The organisation said today (7 April) that it would launch a series of reports on the impact of bulk shipping on product quality, cost and carbon emissions and the strength, performance and consumer appeal of lightweight glass bottles.

Wrap's category manager for beverages, Nicola Jenkin, said bulk transportation of wine, for use in lightweight bottles in the UK, could deliver "impressive environmental and cost savings".

"However, both issues remain the subject of considerable discussion within the industry," she said.

Last month, Wrap published the results of the first study into the carbon impact of bottling wine in the UK in glass and PET bottles. It found that lightweighting of bottles in wine bulk-imported from Australia, irrespective of whether they were glass or PET, would lead to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

In addition, the more recycled content used in the bottle, the greater the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

Morrisons, Tesco, the Co-op and brand owners Constellation Europe and PLB Wines all support the use of lighter-weight glass bottles.

Wrap will hold a briefing session on 20 May at LIWF entitled "Bottling wine in a changing climate".

Delegates will hear from those who have trialled these processes and will be able to test Wrap's upgraded Ready Reckoner that enables businesses to identify potential cost and environmental savings through lightweighting and bulk imports.

Wrap said the current uptake of lighter glass bottles in the wine industry would save more than 10,000 tonnes of glass packaging each year.