We know that our obsession with plastic is ruining the planet.
Not enough of it is being recycled, too much of it is being dumped in landfills (to all of you who don’t wash your recycling, we’re looking at you) and oceans, and we’re using too many vital, virgin resources in making new plastic material.
Of the 8.3bn tonnes of virgin plastic produced worldwide, only 9% has been recycled, according to a 2017 Science Advances paper entitled Production, Use And Fate Of All Plastics Ever Made.
It’s much better to go for glass over plastic, right?
Well, not necessarily. Archaeologists are still digging up bits of glass bottle thrown overboard from slave ships (in countries like Sierra Lione) and glass fish from the Roman era in places like Gloucestershire. According to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, it might take as long as 1 million years for a glass bottle to decompose. One million!
Rather than freaking out, you have two options. Firstly, wash your bloody recycling so that every bit of glass you own stands a good chance of being recycled. Secondly, swap your regular vino for wine that comes in a paper bottle.
Frugal Bottle is made from 94 per cent recycled paperboard, with a food-grade liner to hold wine or spirits. It can keep liquid cooler for longer if refrigerated and costs about as much to manufacture as a standard glass bottle.
It’s the brainchild of sustainable packaging firm Frugalpac, which creates recycled paper-based products in Ipswich. Its whole ethos is about using material that’s been and will be recycled – lowering a product’s carbon footprint.
The bottles are said to be five times lighter than a normal bottle, with a carbon footprint up to 84% less than a class one and a third less than a 100% recycled plastic bottle. Oh, and these bottles are easier to recycle again. All you have to do is separate the liner from the outside and pop them both into your recycling bin.
Frugalpac Chief Executive Malcolm Waugh said: ‘Our mission is to design, develop and supply sustainable packaging.
‘As well as the superior environmental benefits, it looks and feels like no other bottle you have ever seen.’
The first wine to go on sale in a Frugal Bottle is from the award-winning Italian vineyard Cantina Goccia.
Owner Ceri Parke, said: ‘We’re delighted to be making history with the most sustainable wine bottle in the world’.
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