Bulk it bottle it and buy it in Britain

A major initiative led by WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme) could see more wine importers and retailers opting to bulk import wine and bottle it in lighter bottles made in the UK. The aim of the work is to reduce the amount of glass waste we generate and to boost the UK’s glass recycling market.

The UK is the largest importer of wine in the world, with one billion bottles coming each year from Europe and the New World, around 80% already bottled. WRAP’s new project will tackle the tens of thousands of tonnes of glass waste associated with these imports, particularly green glass.

”Because we consume a lot of wine, but we don’t produce many green bottles in this country, the domestic market for recycled green glass can struggle to keep pace,” explains Andy Dawe, WRAP’s Material Sector Manager for Glass, who is heading up the wine bottle initiative.

“With wine imports expected to continue growing over the next few years WRAP is looking to work in partnership with the wine industry and retailers to develop cost-effective ways to reduce the volume of green glass coming into the UK, and to increase demand for domestic production of green glass wine bottles.”

WRAP has already conducted in-depth research into wine imports and market trends and believes there are two main approaches that can bring both commercial and environmental benefits:
- increasing the proportion of wine imported in bulk and then bottled in the UK, particularly from the New World which accounts for around 50% of imports and has higher shipping costs as a result of the distances involved; and
- lightweighting - reducing the amount of glass used per wine bottle.
“Currently, 20% of wine is imported in bulk to the UK and our research suggests that more use of bulk importing from certain markets will not only boost glass recycling levels in the UK, but will also generate cost benefits for the wine industry,” says Andy.

“Our research shows that an additional 10% switch would mean 55,000 tonnes less glass imported and a rise in demand for recycled green glass in the UK of 50,000 tonnes; a combined improvement of 105,000 tonnes per year.”

While bulk importing will deliver the biggest wins in terms of reducing UK glass waste, lightweighting has been a design consideration for the glass container industry for some time, and WRAP is looking to support and speed up innovation in this area. Through its Container Lite project, which involves a number of leading industry names and brands, WRAP has already supported Coors Brewers Ltd to successfully lightweight its 330ml Grolsch bottle by 13%, saving 4,500 tonnes/year.

“The project has shown that many existing food and drink bottles can be lightweighted without affecting packaging performance or product sales. This reduces material and energy costs bringing benefits to manufacturers, retailers, consumers and the environment,” explains WRAP’s Head of Innovation Richard Swannell. “For the wine industry, where the weight of a 75cl bottle can vary between 300g and 800g, the potential for cost and waste reductions are large.”

To address concerns about the practicalities and brand implications of moving to lighter bottles, the project has helped to fund filling and shelf trials, as well as consumer research, to deliver innovation that offers commercial as well as environmental benefits.

To help the industry to explore the range of bulk importing and lightweighting opportunities, WRAP has also created detailed models which calculate the cost benefits for different products and scenarios, and will be engaging with industry stakeholders over the coming months to discuss the business case. Interactive versions of the models, as well as more details on the results of the Container Lite project, will also be available on the WRAP stand at the London International Wine & Spirits Fair in May.