The WRAP Wine Initiative

More bulk. Less bottle.

Opportunities available to the wine industry via bulk importation, lightweighting and
colour choice that deliver significant cost savings and competitive advantage.
02 The WRAP Wine Initiative

The WRAP Wine Initiative

The WRAP Wine Initiative is aiming to encourage more wine
importers and retailers to bulk import wine and bottle it in lighter
glass bottles, manufactured in the UK. WRAP (the Waste &
Resources Action Programme) is working with the wine industry to
reduce the amount of glass waste in the UK, boost the UK’s glass
recycling market, and improve the industry’s carbon emissions
profile while at the same time reducing costs.

Who is WRAP?
WRAP is a government-funded programme that aims to accelerate
resource efficiency by creating efficient markets for recycled
materials and products, while removing barriers to waste
minimisation, re-use and recycling. We work with the public
sector and industry.

Why wine?
The Courtauld Commitment
UK wine consumption is a major contributor, via glass bottles, to
the domestic waste stream. Recycled glass from the predominantly
The Courtauld Commitment was
green bottles in which this wine comes, cannot be used in flint
signed by 92% of the UK retail sector.
(clear) glass production, which dominates UK manufacture. In other
The signatories commit to supporting
words, there is not enough high value, domestic demand for all the
WRAP in the achievement of its
green glass waste currently produced in the UK.
objectives, as follows:
Reducing glass waste would help major retailers meet their
- To design out packaging waste
obligations under the Courtauld Commitment on packaging waste
growth by 2008.
reduction, to which they gave their pledge in the summer of 2005.
- To deliver absolute reductions
Reducing the number of wine bottles going to landfill will also
in packaging waste by 2010.
represent a major step towards the UK as a whole meeting its EU
- To identify ways to tackle the
Packaging Directive target. Under this directive, 60% of the nation’s
problem of food waste.
waste glass must be recycled by 2008, or serious financial penalties
will be triggered.

What are the options?

Lightweight the bottles
Wine bottles display a large variation in weight. WRAP’s research
suggests that currently the average weight of a wine bottle is 500g, with
the lightest at 300g. This offers much potential to reduce the amount of
waste produced by wine bottles in the household waste stream.

Import wine in bulk and bottle in the UK

Bulk delivery is a significantly more cost-effective method for
transporting wine to the UK, especially from the New World. Bulk
exports of wine currently account for approximately 210 million litres
(20%) of current imports, of which 60% comes from the New World.

Increase demand for flint wine bottles

Imported flint (clear) glass bottles would have a ready market in
the UK once recycled.
 The WRAP Wine Initiative 03

Waste glass in the UK

Currently 2.5 million tonnes of glass packaging enters the UK waste
The current UK wine market – stream each year. Of this, some 1.27 million tonnes was recycled in
2005 – 20% more than the year before.
some key facts
The UK waste stream contains, annually, almost 1 million tonnes of
1. I n 2004, the UK wine market had a green glass. Domestic glass container furnaces produce 400,000
retail value of around £7.6 billion, tonnes of green glass, which implies that around 600,000 tonnes is
representing a growth of 31% since imported, for the most part in green wine bottles.
1999. French wines are dominant in
the UK on-trade (pubs, bars, hotels Quite apart from the volume of green glass being imported each
and restaurants), while Australian year, and added to the domestic waste stream, the situation is
wines are becoming more dominant exacerbated by the imbalance in the colour mix between the waste
in the retail market. Wines from glass being recovered and that required by the domestic container
South Africa, Chile, Argentina and glass manufacturers. Put simply, there is more green glass waste
New Zealand are continuing to than there is domestic demand to enable it to be recycled here in the
increase in popularity. most sustainable manner: currently the UK produces 1.96 million
tonnes of packed glass, of which just 20% is green.
2. Almost half of the wine Britons
consume is imported from the New
World. Over 70% of this wine is
sold in off-sales (specialised wine
and alcohol stores and grocery WRAP’s GlassRite initiative
retailers). Supermarkets account
for 80% of off-licence sales, and WRAP is working with the glass container supply chain to increase
of these the bulk is sold by Tesco, the use of recycled glass in their products, and to reduce the amount
Sainsbury’s and Asda. of glass waste produced in the waste stream. The programme,
GlassRite, is focusing on activities within the wine, beer and cider,
3. Most wine is filled into bottles spirits and food sectors. The wine project aims to investigate,
in the country of origin, with the through trials and research, the technical, economic and practical
majority going into 75cl bottles. aspects of the following:

4. Taking an average weight of 500g, • The lightweighting of wine bottles currently being produced
the annual contribution of own- within the UK and in the country of origin for sale in the
label wines to the glass waste UK market.
stream would be approximately
55,000 tonnes. • Increase bulk importation of wine (retailers own-label
and brands from New World producers) and bottle in the UK
in domestically manufactured bottles.

• Where feasible, switch from coloured glass bottles to

flint bottles produced and filled at source
04 The WRAP Wine Initiative

Lightweighting
Wine bottles display a large variation in weight. By simply
lightweighting wine bottles and using less glass in the first place, Example: Savings if one of South
substantial tonnage savings could be made. Africa’s top selling branded
Chenin Blanc/Chardonnay
WRAP’s research found that the weight of a 75cl wine bottle can vary bottle was lightweighted
between 300g and 900g. If the majority of bottles were produced to at source to 300g:
the lower benchmark weight the volume of glass used in imported
wine bottles could be reduced by 110,000 tonnes every year. – Estimated total material cost
savings: £259,000 pa.
– PRN savings: £10,000 pa.
Weights by bottling location
– Potential glass savings:
1000 810 tonnes.
900 – Possible carbon savings:
Bottle weight (g)

800
700 570 tonnes.
600
500 Note: Calculations based on
400
300 2.8 million bottles.
200
100
0
a
ce
a

y
ile
ia

A
d
ly

UK
ric
an
in

ai
an

US
l

Ita
an
Ch
ra
nt

Sp
Af
rm

al
Fr
st
ge

Ze

h
Ge
Au
Ar

ut
ew

So

Maximum Weight
N

Minimum Weight
Country bottled Average Weight

Wine bottle weight also varies depending on the country of origin.

On average, bottles manufactured in Argentina, South Africa
and New Zealand tend to be heavier, with the French producing
the lightest bottles.

BottleBottle
weight
weightagainst purchase
against purchase price price

£5. 00
(£) (£)

£4. 00
price
Purchase price

£3. 00
Purchase

£2. 00

£1. 00

£0. 00
200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Bottle weight (g)
Bottle weight (g)

Interestingly, there is little correlation between the purchase price

of wine at £5.00 and under, with bottle weight. Some wine costing
around £4.00 comes in bottles weighing 300g, whilst others for the
same price come in just over 750g – a difference of 450g.
 The WRAP Wine Initiative 05

Importing in bulk
The use of bulk importation is already well-established in the
UK wine trade, with the activity being driven by price-conscious Example: Savings if just one of
retailers. Total bulk imports into the UK currently stand at Australia’s top selling
around 210 million litres, or 20% of total sales. branded Chardonnay wines
were to be bulk imported
There are attractive costs savings associated with bulk into the UK and the bottle
shipments. Shipping costs are reduced by up to 40%, the EU’s lightweighted to 300g:
common custom tariff is levied at a lower rate on containers
with a volume exceeding 2 litres, and UK bottle prices are often – Estimated total transport
lower than those in the producer country. Some of the Top and material cost savings:
50 selling brands in the UK could make between 35% to 47% £1,200,000 pa of which,
savings on their total distribution costs if they imported their 63% is attributed to savings
wine into the UK in bulk. on transport.
– PRN savings: £16,000 pa.
Bulk containerisation has the greatest potential positive benefit on – Potential glass savings:
cullet (waste glass) recovery in the UK, and this is maximised if the 1,300 tonnes.
wine is bottled in green bottles manufactured in the UK. Filling the – Possible carbon savings:
wine in UK-produced green bottles would provide the additional 1,220 tonnes.
benefit of increasing the demand for green cullet. Recycling glass
back to the furnaces saves valuable raw materials, reduces energy Note: Calculations based on
consumption and lowers carbon emissions. 5.4 million bottles.

Bulk shipping also reduces the environmental impact of

transport, bringing further significant carbon savings as fewer
containers and ship voyages are required.
A standard 24,000 litre flexitank
Last but not least, wine shipped in bulk and bottled locally container of wine holds the equivalent
gives the filler greater flexibility to quickly respond to rapidly of 32,000 bottles, avoiding the
changing market demands including retail promotions. shipment of 16 tonnes of glass in
the process.

By just implementing a further

10% switch to bulk importing,
we would see 55,000 tonnes less
glass imported into the UK, and
if these bottles are subsequently
manufactured in the UK, 50,000
tonnes more recycled green glass
will be used in the process.

Green glass bottles can contain up

to 90% recycled glass, whereas the
effective limit for clear glass is 60%.
06 The WRAP Wine Initiative

Bottling at source in flint

The best way to reduce waste glass in the UK would be to import
wine in bulk, and bottle it here in green glass. But other ways of
Wine from Australia
reducing the amount of green glass entering the UK waste stream
can also be considered, and one of them is bottling at source in
The UK is Australia’s single largest
flint glass.
market for its wine exports, with
some 257 million litres of still wine
Some brands are already bottled in flint. Blossom Hill, a leading
being exported in 2005. Australian
Californian brand is a good example. WRAP’s research so far
wines comprise 24% of the UK
suggests that flint appears to be an option for high sugar, short
market, worth £920 million.
shelf-life wines. Some literature also suggests that the increased
tannins in red wine also inhibit a reaction to UV light, and so flint
The volume of exports to the UK has
may be appropriate here, too – again, perhaps, for fast-turnover
increased by more than 20% over the
branded wines.
past three years. The majority of the
wine is shipped to the UK in bottles,
although bulk shipment is on the
increase, and currently accounts for
Potential Barriers 24% (60 million litres) of imports
from Australia.
Some barriers to lightweighting have been identified, and could
Over 70% of the wine imported into
include reduced durability and therefore wastage through increased
the UK is sold through the off-sales
breakage of bottles - particularly over longhaul journeys, or on fast
market, of which the top-selling
filling lines. Heavier bottles are often perceived to represent quality
brands are Jacob’s Creek, Hardy’s
wines, with lighter bottles suggesting cheaper wines. This perception
Stamp, Hardy’s Crest and Banrock
is not necessarily the case for wine sold under the £4.99 price point.
Station. The Top 10 brands accounted
Some overseas bottlers could also object to producing lighter bottles
for 116 million 75cl bottles, and would
just for the UK. This may be an issue for some: however, for many
have a combined glass weight of
producers, the UK is an extremely important market.
62,000 tonnes.
Possible objections to greater bulk importing could be an
The average weight of bottles used
unwillingness by some producers, state and national governments
by the Australian wine brand owners
to reduce domestic bottling, in view of local socio-economic
is 530g, within a range of around
initiatives. Some overseas suppliers have concerns over the capacity
420g to around 750g. The majority
of the UK bottle manufacturing industry. The UK bottling industry
are made of green glass, which
does have plenty of capacity to both produce and fill bottles. Also
suggests that Australian wine
increasing the product range manufactured in the UK is a priority
contributes an estimated 120,000
of GlassRite: Wine project. Finally, there might be some concerns
tonnes of glass to the UK’s household
about consumer objections to bulk importation. This is currently not
waste stream per year.
a problem for successful bulk importers.
Savings if one of Australia’s top
selling brand’s Shiraz Cabernet were
bulk imported and bottled in the UK
in 300g bottles:
– Estimated total savings:
£920,000 pa.
– PRN savings: £8,000 pa.
– Potential glass savings:
670 tonnes.
– Possible carbon savings:
690 tonnes.

Note: Calculations based on about

4 million bottles sold.
 The WRAP Wine Initiative 07

Next steps
“The wine and spirits WRAP can provide further information on trials and consumer
perception studies undertaken to date on bottle lightweighting,
industry is committed to bulk importing and other issues touched on in this summary report.

exploring ways of As indicated previously, Wrap is funding the GlassRite: Wine

project to trial the lightweighting of wine bottles and increasing bulk
maximising profitability importation of wine into the UK. Developments and outcomes will be
whilst ensuring social and made available throughout the duration of the project, which is due to
complete in March 2008.
environmental awareness.
WRAP has also developed an economic model to help the wine
WRAP’s initiative is very supply chain identify, using client specific data, the potential cost and
environmental savings through lightweighting and bulk importation.
interesting and so it’s
important for producers to
investigate whether they Calculate your savings at
can help make a difference http://winebottles.wrap.org.uk
in reducing glass waste if
the economic case for doing
so appears to make sense”.
John Corbet-Milward, Head of Technical
and International Affairs, WSTA

Sources:
Information for this summary was extracted
from research carried out for WRAP by
AC Nielsen, James Ross Consulting, Glass
Technology Services (British Glass) and
Oakdene Hollins.

Date published: August 2006

The calculations in this brochure and in the

wine calculator are intended to be a simple
illustrative tool and data derived should not be
seen as definitive; actual savings will depend
on your specific circumstances.
Andy Dawe, Glass Technology Manager, WRAP Nicola Jenkin, Retail Innovation, WRAP
Tel: 01295 819910 Tel : 01295 819609
E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

Waste & Resources The Old Academy, Tel: 01295 819900 Helpline freephone
Action Programme 21 Horse Fair, Fax: 01295 819911 0808 100 2040
Banbury, Oxon E-mail: [email protected]
OX16 0AH

www.wrap.org.uk/retail

Printed on Revive Silk

75% recycled content
When you have finished with
this report please recycle it.