Design4Recycling: flat plastic bottle for sustainable wine enjoyment

If wine bottles were designed for the first time today, they would look different – the British start-up Packamama is sure of that. Especially in view of the climate crisis, packaging needs to be rethought. This is how Packamama's flat plastic bottle came into being, which is not only highly sustainable but also makes quite a visual impact.

In an interview with K-MAG, Amelia Dales talks about the advantages of plastic, the extent to which the flat wine bottle saves CO₂ and why this is particularly exciting for the wine industry.

You say: "We took the wine bottle and made it better." What does that mean?

Amelia Dales: We believe that wine needs better bottles – ones that are up to the challenges of the 21st century, first and foremost the climate crisis. Round glass wine bottles are heavy, spatially inefficient, high in emissions easily breakable and dangerous if they have shattered. If designing bottles from scratch, you would do it differently. In fact, you would create a bottle with the opposite features, which is what we have done at Packamama.

Why did you choose plastic for this?

Dales: We did not choose plastic, we chose the most scalable sustainable material available which is 100% recycled PET. No other available solution competes for a scaled solution at this time.

We are clear in our communications when explaining our material choice and that starts with highlighting that plastic is an oversimplified term for a group of polymers that behave and perform very differently. This makes it hard for consumers and those that do not work in materials or packaging to have a clear understanding of what is good and what is not from an environmental and commercial perspective. We choose to use food grade rPET as it's a best-in-class material for our application; lightweight, robust, visible glass like properties, low energy required to produce, move, and recycle, and importantly the most widely recycled plastic in the world, contributing further to circular material use.

In what way is your bottle more sustainable than conventional wine bottles?

Dales: Our bottles are more environmentally sustainable because they are made from a lightweight material which takes more than 6 times less temperature to blow. By changing the shape and material, we offer wine companies a bottle that is on average 87% lighter and can fit up to double the amount of wine in most given spaces, such as on a pallet, on shelf and in the fridge at home. This significantly reduces costs and emissions through the often long and complex wine supply chain.

Round glass bottles and their associated secondary packaging and transport are the largest contributors to wine's carbon footprint and so this is the area where a significant improvement, or better bottle, can have the greatest positive impact. The wine industry is at greater risk than most from the extreme weather events brought about by global warming, which will become more frequent as the climate crisis worsens. Studies show that if we reach two degrees Celsius rise in global temperatures, over half of the current vineyard land would no longer be suitable for producing grapes for wine.

The use of 100% recycled PET and the flat shape of our bottles allows wine companies on average to halve their carbon footprint.

How can the plastic bottles be disposed of?

Dales: One of the key elements in creating the Packamama bottle was to ensure recyclability by design. PET is easily and widely recyclable, in the UK 99% of local authorities provide kerbside collection. In addition, we recommend a specific cap, made from polypropylene, and labels, including appropriate wash off adhesives. Not needing to separate components and the use of mono, not mixed, materials is fundamental in making it simple and easy for consumers to recycle our bottles once they have enjoyed their wine. Therefore, we do not recommend disposal, but we recommend recycling.

What are your next goals?

Dales: With our current wine bottle format, we have offices and production in both the UK and Australia. Spring this year saw us launch a collaboration with closures giant Vinventions in France, and next we will launch in the US. In addition to growth across multiple geographies, we will also broaden our product portfolio this year to include a 750ml flat Burgundy bottle and a flat 187ml Bordeaux bottle. We are also active in studying bio-based materials or other potential novel materials of the future.