Browsing the wine shelves in my grocery store the other day, I spied something exciting: a paper wine bottle. I’d read they were coming — and here they are!
The wine, from wine company Truett-Hurst, Inc. and branded PaperBoy, is the first in the U.S. to be packaged in these innovative paper bottles. The package is recycled cardboard molded into a wine bottle shape with a plastic liner. The cardboard outer layer can go into mainstream recycling streams to produce other cardboard products. The cap and liner are also recyclable plastic (although note they are plastics #4 and #5 which aren’t recyclable everywhere). In total, the overall carbon footprint of PaperBoy, from production to shipping to recycling, is significantly lower than that of glass.
This is important, because according to wrap.org.uk, we consume 17.5 billion bottles of wine a year globally, which produces 8.75 billion tons of glass waste — more packaging waste than any other product in the food or drink sector. And a case of normal glass bottles with liquid is 36 pounds versus 23.6 pounds for paper bottles — a weight reduction of 34 percent and savings of more than 7 tons per truckload of wine shipped. This leads to a reduction in transportation costs and the environmental impact of distribution.
Introductory wines include a Paso Robles Red Blend and a Mendocino Chardonnay. Of course, I had to try the red. The wine — meh — it was OK — not quite my style of red. But give me a paper wine bottle anytime. It was so much lighter to carry home. And think of the glory of taking wine to go for a picnic, outdoor concert, or camping trip in a less hazardous bottle that you can crush and carry out with ease.
We’re beginning to see other products, like laundry detergent, in these lighter eco-friendly containers. What do you think of this trend? Does environmentally sound packaging influence your buying decisions?
Image Credit: https://www.facebook.com/PaperBoyWines
