" The new bottle is a real landmark in packaging design. A sub-300 gram spirits bottle has set a new ‘best in class’ standard for the sector, so the achievement is very welcome news "
Nicola Jenkin, WRAP project manager
The Co-op has rolled out the world’s lightest spirit bottle. Weighing in at only 298 grams it really is the fly-weight of the whisky world.
The new bottle has been developed and produced by Rockware Glass and will be used for the Co-op’s own label whisky from April.
The innovative design will reduce manufacturing costs, cut carbon emissions and minimise the amount of glass being used in packaging. It is also the first commercially available 70cl bottle to break the 300 gram weight barrier.
The Co-op will trial the bottle in their best-selling 70cl whisky, but plans to expand its use into other 70cl own-brand spirits.
WRAP says that the spirits industry is one of the UK’s biggest consumers of glass packaging, using more than half a million tonnes each year.
Off-trade spirits sales continuing to rise resulting in strong demand for glass packaging. WRAP says that it expects this bottle to lead the way in lightweigting across this important industry sector.
The WRAP organisation, which works in partnership to encourage and enable businesses and consumers to be more efficient in their use of materials and recycle more things more often, estimates that 150,000 tonnes of glass could be saved each year, if the food and drink industry reduced the average container weight by just 10 per cent.
The innovative bottle was developed by Rockware and later incorporated into the Container Lite Programme – a year-long industry-wide project funded by WRAP to promote a range of lightweight glass containers.
WRAP continues to work with the glass container supply chain on projects to increase the use of recycled glass in bottles and jars, and through GlassRite, which aims to reduce the amount of glass used in packaging.
WRAP comments
WRAP project manager, Nicola Jenkin, said:
“The new bottle is a real landmark in packaging design. A sub-300 gram spirits bottle has set a new ‘best in class’ standard for the sector, so the achievement is very welcome news.
“The new design proves that it is possible for packaging to be resource-efficient, without compromising performance or consumer appeal. We hope other retailers and brand owners will now follow suit.”
Further information
Manufacturers, retailers or brand owners interested in finding out more about lightweight glass containers are invited to contact WRAP’s Retail Innovation team on 01295 819686 or retail@wrap.org.uk. WRAP’s new retail website can be found at www.wrap.org.uk/retail