Sustainable wine packaging from Bee Lightly does not sacrifice taste
Would you drink wine from a plastic bottle? How about a paper bottle? Aluminum? In California and beyond, vintners and distillers are staring straight at a tough reality: glass bottles, for wine, spirits and other products, are responsible for more than 30% of a beverage’s carbon footprint. “Glass bottles are the single largest contributor to wines’ carbon footprint,” says CEO and Founder of Packamama, Santiago Navarro. Add in packaging transit and transport for finished goods, and the percentage nudges over 50. In their search for solutions, wine and spirits innovators are embracing new packaging technologies: aluminum, paper and plastic bottles that negate the significant harmful environmental impacts of glass, without sacrificing taste.
rPET Leads the Way in New Plastics
Based in the United Kingdom, Packamama’s mission is “to provide innovative, climate-friendly packaging for the drinks industry.” Bee Lightly Wines, imported from France to the United States by Marin-based WX Brands, sells chardonnay and rosé packaged in Packamama’s rPET plastic bottle. It’s made with 100% recycled plastic and lined with a proprietary gas barrier and UV inhibitor, ensuring the wine inside makes no contact with the plastic, and its flavor stays stable.
The carbon reduction of using rPET adds up quickly. The angular bottle is 86% lighter than glass and its flat-pack design allows 79% more bottles per pallet and 44% fewer pallets, reducing transportation emissions.
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