By Laura McGuire
What constitutes a nice bottle of wine? Connoisseurs will often tell you to look out for age, aroma, and how much it will set you back. But what about environmental credentials?
“I’m very aware of the planet, we need to make sure that everything is sustainable moving forward,” Malcolm Waugh, chief executive of British packaging manufacturer Frugalpac, tells City A.M.
Waugh couldn’t be sitting at a better top table to deliver this belief.
For the past five years, he has been leading a business which has created coffee cups and alcohol bottles made from sustainable materials. The latter now catching the attention of major brands in the UK.
The firm has manufactured a wine bottle which is made from 94 percent recycled paperboard with a food-grade pouch to contain the wine. According to independent analysis by Intertek, this material has a carbon footprint up to six times lower than a standard glass bottle.
Some wine snobs may raise their eyebrows at the thought, but the idea has won over the heart of Britain’s fourth largest supermarket, Aldi.
Earlier this month, the German discounter said it would sell two of its own brand wines, Cambalala South African Sauvignon Blanc and Cambalala South African Shiraz in the Frugal Bottle.
Speaking at the time, Julie Ashfield, managing director of buying at Aldi UK, said: “Shoppers are striving to become more sustainable in their everyday lives, looking for small ways to make a big difference for our planet.
“Our buying teams are continuously thinking of how we can evolve our ranges to offer greater value and greener choices. We are proud to be the first supermarket to launch an own-brand paper bottle, helping to drive sustainable change.”
Aside from Aldi, the business also packages Welsh-based Flawless Vodka, with the eco-friendly spirit sold in over 100 Tesco supermarkets across the country.
Award winning wine maker Cantina Goccia has also been a fan of the bottle since 2020, with the business now intending to sell half of their wines in Frugal Bottles.
Waugh said there is a “huge opportunity” for supermarkets to look at sustainable alternatives, especially when it comes to how alcohol is packaged.
He explained: “The Institute of Grocery Distribution published an interesting article last year which talks about the carbon caused by packaging by category within retail.”
“The largest carbon element is wine and spirits, which represents 21 per cent of an average retailer’s carbon footprint packaging coming from that category alone.”
“There’s a huge opportunity for them [supermarkets] to look at alternatives and really make a dent in that carbon because that’s all caused by glass and not all those products need to be in glass bottles,” he added.
Eco-conscious shoppers are aware that adding more ethically sourced products to your basket comes with a higher price tag. This is because the raw materials are traditionally more expensive to source.
Waugh said Frugal’s bottles are roughly 20p more expensive than a glass bottle on the shelf.
He said: “You tend to be dealing with products where the wine is sold at sort of eight to 12 pounds. Some of our customers are absorbing that difference and not passing it through.
“And others have created new products that maybe have a higher quality liquid in them and then passed through the additional price. So there is a small increase.”
Going forward however, the chief believes prices may start to decrease soon. “We’ve got so many launches happening therefore there’s a lot more paper being used, so naturally the price of the bottle is coming down.”
