Following the successful trial of a range of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) bottles, The Wine Society has launched four permanent listings in Packamama eco-flat bottles into its range.
Comprising some of the Society’s most popular own-label wines, including its best-selling wine; The Society’s White Burgundy, all four wines launch mid-September, as part of the retailer’s leading Sustainability Plan and goal to half its total carbon footprint by 2032.
Working with climate tech packaging specialists, Packamama, the flat bottles are produced from 100% recycled PET. The bottles along with the caps and labels are all fully recyclable at home and collected by 99% of UK local authorities in kerbside recycling.
The flat design and light weight compared to glass (63g vs glass average of 453g) of the bottle means significant carbon emissions savings can be made in relation to production, transport, and recycling.
The white wines are packed in colourless (flint) bottles by Packamama. These are made from Prevented Ocean Plastic; a high quality, food grade recycled PET material. The material is categorised as ocean-bound plastic, meaning that it has been found within a 50km distance of an ocean coastline, and would have been at high risk of ending up in our oceans if it had not been collected for recycling.
Unlike glass, the colourless rPET bottles by Packamama also have a UV inhibitor added that protects the wine from light strike. The red wines are packed in green bottles and both these and the colourless bottles have an advanced oxygen scavenging barrier technology that allows for a good shelf life for the wine – although The Wine Society recommend drinking within 12 months of purchase.
The labels are specially designed to work with rPET bottles and the recycling process and uses specially designed adhesive to make the bottles recyclable. The screwcaps are also tethered to comply with the EU directive on single use plastics and ensure no caps are left behind and the full bottle makes it in one piece to the recycling point.
The Wine Society has streamlined the shipping and bottling process, to ensure the transportation of the wines from winery to The Wine Society is as carbon efficient as possible.
Dom de Ville, Director of Sustainability and Social Impact comments: “According to our research, glass bottles account for 31% of The Society’s total emissions. To achieve our ambitious reduction targets, we need to significantly reduce our emissions attributable to packaging. One way to do this is putting more of our wines into lower-carbon packaging formats. Although rPET might sound controversial, with today’s technology and in the absence of a proper system in the UK to collect and reuse glass bottles, the recycled plastic bottle is a good option, with a lower-carbon footprint than glass and can be recycled kerbside at home.”
“While we recognise there is a plastic pollution problem, it is not necessarily plastic itself that is the problem, rather it is what we do with it. This is why we are taking a practical approach; working with initiatives such as Prevented Ocean Plastic – seeing its benefit in our efforts on climate change, rather than taking a black-or-white stance that all plastics are bad.”
Santiago Navarro, CEO & Founder of Packamama, said: “We are deeply grateful that, following a successful trial last year, the world’s oldest wine club has taken this leadership step to permanently implement one of the world’s latest bottle technologies to reduce their emissions and contribute to achieving their bold sustainability goals. We are humbled and motivated to be collaborating with The Wine Society, and to see them supporting this move by offering these wines at a discount to glass, and we hope this serves as a catalyst for others in our industry to trial or implement innovations to slash their carbon footprint in a worsening climate crisis.”
Available to buy now, the rPET bottles all retail 25 pence below the price of the equivalent glass bottles:
- The Society’s White Burgundy 2023 rPET 75cl bottle £11.70
- The Society’s Beaujolais Villages 2023 rPET 75cl bottle £10.25
- The Society’s French Chardonnay 2023 rPET 75cl bottle £8.50
- The Society’s French Pinot Noir 2023 rPET bottle 75cl bottle £8.25
For further information or photos, please contact Packamama on press@packamama.com or The
Wine Society on pressoffice@thewinesociety.com
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About The Wine Society:
Since 1874 The Wine Society has been doing business differently, putting its members before profit to ensure fairer bottle prices for both the people that enjoy them, and the winemakers who craft them. It offers fair, transparent, competitive, and sustainable prices to all members and suppliers, adopting an any day low-price approach and ensuring year-round value. The Wine Society has pledged to support its members by absorbing the costs of inflation and duty and any additional cash generated will go straight back into holding and reducing prices. Its sustainability plan covers five key pillars: acting on climate change, protecting our environment, sourcing responsibly, caring for our people and inspiring action. It sends zero waste to landfill and aims to be carbon neutral across direct operations by end of 2024, reduce Scope 1 & 2 greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2028, and be net zero across Scope 1, 2 & 3 by 2040. Discover more about The Wine Society and its sustainability plans on its website.
About Packamama:
Packamama is the climate tech packaging business designed for a circular economy and offering packaging protecting Mother Earth. Believing in the far-reaching opportunity that packaging offers to be a force for good, Packamama is on a mission to help create a low carbon future in the drinks industry, starting with better wine bottles; multi award-winning, eco-flat bottles that are made from 100% recycled PET, saving space, weight, and energy to slash emissions. This tackles the wine industry’s carbon footprint hotspot of round, glass bottles. Packamama is powered by a production network of industry leaders spanning Australia, UK, Belgium, France, and shortly the US and South Africa too. A passionate team provides forward-thinking wine brands, companies, and retailers with the packaging and production to implement Packamama’s IP-protected portfolio of innovative, climate-friendly bottles into their businesses.