Alternative packaging to cut packaging emissions
The reduction potential, measured
Time horizon: Immediate
How it cuts it
Replacing glass with lighter materials sharply cuts the largest footprint source in the right segment.
What to measure for this pairing
Why this source matters
In most wine life-cycle analyses, packaging is the single largest hotspot of the carbon footprint, and glass is the dominant fraction. Making the bottle is energy-intensive and its weight then drags transport emissions up too.
Cutting here has the biggest payback: lighter bottles, recycled glass and alternative formats reduce both manufacturing and distribution emissions at once. Measuring bottle weight per SKU is the first step.
Source indicators
Scope & reporting: It is the priority target of low-carbon labels and commitments such as the IWCA and SWR.
How to implement the lever
- 1Identify the SKUs suited to alternative formats.
- 2Assess bag-in-box, can or PET by channel and market.
- 3Communicate the environmental benefit to the consumer.
- 4Log the material and recompute the footprint.
Frequently asked
Do they work for age-worthy wines?
Mostly no — they suit wines for near-term drinking. (Light) glass remains for age-worthy and premium wines.
Are cans and PET recyclable?
Aluminium is highly recyclable; PET is recyclable too. Bag-in-box has mixed components, but its footprint per litre is usually among the lowest.
Same lever, other sources
Same source, other levers — Packaging
How GrapeFlow helps
The footprint per bottle and per season, always up to date — the basis of any low-carbon report.
Packaging materials & bottle weight
Weight and composition of each bottle and material by SKU — to quantify and cut the largest footprint source.
Carbon footprint per bottle & season
GrapeFlow gathers energy, fuel, packaging and inputs and computes the footprint per bottle and per season — the basis of any report or low-carbon label.
Energy & fuels (invoices by OCR)
Electricity, diesel and other fuels captured from invoices, with consumption per kWh, per litre and per bottle.