FDBusiness.com

The Co-operative Food has said that it has lightweighted the glass on 20 own-brand wines, helping to reduce the carbon impact of its packaging

According to the retailer, working with supplier, Kingsland Wines and Spirits, the lightweighting move will save 725 tonnes of glass each year.

This means that the retailer will also save over 556 tonnes of CO₂per year.

The initiative is part of the Co-operative’s pledge to reduce the amount of packaging used on its own-brand products by 15% by the end of 2013 – part of the overall aim to protect the environment set out in its Ethical Plan.

The retailer said that lightweighting wine bottles has little effect on the aesthetics of the products – the new bottles are of a similar shape, with a slight reduction in height.

Iain Ferguson, environment manager for the Co-operative Food, said: “We continually strive to reduce the carbon impact of our packaging without compromising on the quality or shelf life of the products inside.  Lightweighting wine bottles helps us to deliver on this objective.  Glass takes a lot of energy and resources to produce which lightweighting reduces, but we also benefit from not having as much weight to transport.”

Andy Dawe, head of food and drink at Wrap, said:  “Wrap is delighted that the Co-operative Food continues to make significant progress in lightweighting of wine bottles.

“The opportunity to optimise the amount of glass used in bottles allows for greater efficiency at the manufacturing stage, through the retail chain and once recycled – it brings materials, cost and environmental benefits.”