Reducing Carbon Footprint by Bottling Wine In Plastic

A few weeks ago we had a look at the carbon footprint of a bottle of wine and saw that one of the contributors to the footprint was the shipping costs. These shipping costs are actually a major part of the carbon footprint of wine in the US because of the geographical position of the majority of the country’s winemakers.

One winemaker, Boisset Family Estates in France has taken a dramatic step to reduce their carbon footprint by choosing to export its Beaujolais Nouveau to the United States this year in plastic. This is a wine that is made to be consumed in the short-term rather than to be cellared.

The wine will be exported in recyclable PET bottles that are sealed with screw caps instead of corks. This will save up to 33 per cent on freight charges but it is the carbon footprint saving that the company is doing this for, with the company emphasising that the plastic bottles weight one-eighth as much as a glass bottle.

Wondering whether the consumer will accept wine in plastic bottles shouldn’t be an issue. The wine industry has been presenting wine in different containers for use from cardboard casks to cans and the consumer has been happy to adapt. Traditional glass and cork has already been largely replaced by the Stelvin closure without too much issue.

Bottled wine represents only a tiny percentage of annual carbon emissions worldwide. Nearly 0.1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions annually is attributed to the production and distribution of wine, mostly the latter, according to the American Association of Wine Economists. That’s about the amount generated by 1 million passenger cars each year.