Nine wine retail chains reduce bottle weight by 25 percent

The Sustainable Wine Roundtable (SWRT), founded in 2021, has adopted the new "Sustainable Wine Roundtable Bottle Weight Accord" to reduce the weight of glass bottles. In this agreement, nine leading international wine trade chains commit to reducing the average weight of their bottles by about 25 per cent over the next three years. These include Laithwaites, Lidl GB, Naked Wines UK, Naked Wines USA, the Swedish company Systembolaget, The Wine Society, Virgin Wines, Waitrose and Whole Foods Market. According to Dr Peter Stanbury of SWRT, the 25 per cent reduction in bottle weight equates to a CO2 saving of over 23 million kilos per year.

According to his research, half of wine's carbon footprint is due to packaging, especially the glass bottle. The average weight of a 0.75 litre bottle for still wine is 550 grams, but "there is no practical reason why all wines should not be offered in bottles weighing 420 grams or less," says Stanbury. "As Jancis Robinson MW and other leading wine critics have argued for years, lighter bottles are an easy way for the wine industry to reduce its carbon footprint. The lighter bottles simply required a little more careful handling on bottling lines," Stanbury continued.

"I hope this is the start of a revolution," says Dom de Ville of The Wine Society, calling on wine companies around the world to join the agreement. Gad Pettersson of Systembolaget reports that the Swedish wine monopoly has already reduced its average bottle weight to 477 grams and will introduce an "absolute ban on the heaviest bottles" from March 2024. Ella Worley of Naked Wines USA explained that her company had been reducing the weight of its bottles for some time without consumers noticing.

Peter Stanbury stressed that implementing the agreement would require a collaborative approach across the supply chain. Producers in regions such as Beaujolais and South Africa, for whom it is difficult to obtain lighter bottles, must be supported in the conversion process.

(ru / Decanter)

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