The UK’s WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme) is leading an initiative it hopes could see more wine importers and retailers opting to bulk import wine and bottle it in lighter UK-made bottles.
The aim is to reduce the glass waste generated and boost the UK’s glass recycling market. “Currently 20% of wine is bulk imported to the UK and our research suggests more use of bulk importing will not only boost glass recycling levels here, but also generate cost benefits for the wine industry,” says Andy Dawe, WRAP’s material sector manager, glass.
To help the industry explore bulk importing and lightweighting opportunities, WRAP has created detailed models which calculate the cost benefits for different products and scenarios. The UK is the world’s largest wine importer, with one billion bottles arriving annually from Europe and the New World, around 80% already filled. WRAP’s new project will “tackle the tens of thousands of tonnes associated with these imports, and particularly green glass”.
“Because we consume a lot of wine, but don’t produce many green bottles, the domestic market for recycled green glass can struggle to keep pace,” says Dawe. With wine imports to the UK expected to keep growing, WRAP will work with the sector and retailers to develop cost-effective ways to reduce the volume of green glass coming in and increase demand for domestic production of green glass wine bottles.
Through its Container Lite project, involving leading industry names and brands, WRAP has already supported Coors in successfully lightweighting its 330ml Grolsch bottle by 13%, saving 4,500 tonnes/year.
“The project has shown many existing food and drink bottles can be lightweighted without affecting packaging performance or product sales. For the wine industry, where the weight of a 75cl bottle can vary between 300 and 800g, the potential for cost and waste reductions are large,” adds WRAP head of innovation Richard Swannell.
