Sparkling wine bottles become lighter
With a view to the environment, German sparkling wine producers have reduced the weight of bottles by an average of almost 100 grams to just under 585 grams in recent years. With this "greatest possible reduction", the industry has laid an "important foundation stone for sustainable action", said Alexander Tacer, Managing Director of the Association of German Sparkling Wine Cellars, to the German Press Agency in Mainz.
The sparkling wine produced using the Charmat method - i.e. fermentation in large pressure tanks - is usually filled into bottles weighing 560 grams. However, there are limits to the reduction in bottle weight due to the pressure of at least 3.5 bar in the bottles, said Tacer. Just a few years ago, the standard 0.75-liter bottle with an empty weight of 650 grams was considered the lower weight limit for sparkling wine bottles.
The bottle is the biggest lever for reducing CO2 emissions. "Lighter glass packaging generally requires less raw material for production and also reduces CO2 emissions during the transportation of goods," said Tacer. "In this respect, a lower weight is doubly beneficial from an ecological point of view."
The shift towards lighter Sparkling wine bottles not only benefits the environment by reducing CO2 emissions during transportation but also allows for a more sustainable production of Food & drink, as it requires fewer raw materials for production. Furthermore, this initiative has positively impacted the Drinks sector, as lighter bottles for Sparkling wine are now commonly available, even for those filled using the Charmat method.
Source: www.dpa.com
