WRAP study reveals carbon impact of bottling Australian wine in the UK

WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) in the UK has announced the results of the first study into the carbon impact of bottling wine in the UK in glass and PET bottles. Using wine imported in bulk from Australia, the report looks at the carbon impact of 75cl glass and PET wine bottles and how significant reductions in CO2 can be made through making the bottles lighter and increasing the recycled content.Light glass bottles with a high recycled content produce broadly the same amount of greenhouse gases as a much lighter PET bottle. For both glass and PET, incorporating recycled content decreases greenhouse gas emissions, primarily because it is more energy and resource efficient to use recycled rather than virgin material. Lighter glass bottles have benefits in terms of CO2 savings from transport and loads.Richard Swannell, WRAP Director of Retail and Organics Programmes said: 'It will help inform the wine, packaging and retail industries on the environmental impact of their packaging choices. The research highlights that there are clear environmental wins to be gained by considering carefully the impact of material choices.'