Packaging, not product, is the latest target in a British push to decrease the carbon footprint of imported wine.
The UK ‘s Waste and Resources Action Plan recently studied how much CO2 is produced through manufacturing glass bottles, and how that amount could be lessened.
It has suggested thinner glass bottles, bulk shipments or even plastic containers could be more eco-friendly ways of packaging wine.
Vince O’Brien, from the Australian Wine Research Institute, says the report says the opaque green glass bottles, commonly used by Australian wineries, are especially concerning.
“That particular glass, it’s got chromium in it, that gives it the colour and they have a large amount of those bottles coming into the country,” he says.
“They feel that there’s no effective means of re-using it, so it has an impact on their environmental footprint.”
