Supermarket to sell wine in plastic bottles

Wine will be sold in recyclable plastic bottles instead of glass in Sainsbury's supermarkets as part of a trial, the retailer announced today.

Sainsbury's said the move will reduce carbon emissions by cutting the weight of wine packaging. A plastic bottle is one-eighth the weight of a regular 400g (14oz) glass bottle.

UK consumers buy around one billion bottles of wine every year, using around half-a-million tonnes of glass. Reducing the weight of wine packaging to 54g (2oz) by using plastic bottles could reduce carbon emissions by around 90,000 tonnes, according to the government-funded Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap), which is involved in the trial.

"That's equivalent to taking 28,000 cars off the road for a year," said a Wrap spokeswoman.

Wrap will assess how successfully the plastic bottles can be recycled and will measure the environmental impact of the scheme.

Wrap said that until its environmental analysis was published next month, "it is not in a position to compare" the energy use involved in recycling a glass bottle versus a plastic bottle.

Sainbury's will initially sell an own-label New Zealand sauvignon blanc and an Australian rose in the plastic bottles. The wine will be bottled in the UK, allowing nearly twice the amount of wine to be transported in each container. Bulk shipping also reduces carbon emissions.

Barry Dick, product technologist for beers, wines and spirits at the supermarket said: "The new wine bottle looks exactly the same as a glass bottle, holds the same amount of liquid and doesn't compromise the quality of the wine in any way."

The recyclable 75cl plastic wine bottles go on sale at Sainsbury's early next month, priced at £4.99 for the sauvignon blanc and the Australian rose at £3.99.

Sainsbury's move comes after Waitrose announced last month that it will start selling milk in plastic pouches. The Waitrose announcement came following concerns that plastic milk cartons threaten the environment

Article Source: guardian.co.uk