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A Recyclable Paper Bottle for Wine That's Actually Shaped Like a Bottle

Frugalpac's Frugal Bottle

By Rain Noe - November 25

in Packaging | Sustainability

British packaging company Frugalpac has developed this Frugal Bottle, a paper wine bottle. It's similar to wine-in-a-box, except the packaging is actually shaped like a standard bottle and has the same 750mL capacity.

It's designed for recyclability. The outer surface is made from 94% recyclable paperboard. (I'm guessing that remaining 6% is whatever the neck and cap are made out of.) When the bottle's empty, you press on a demarcated spot on the shoulder to split the seam.

You then pull the outer apart, revealing the polyethylene pouch within. This too can be recycled, though only at a recycling facility that can handle films.

The Frugal Bottle is five times lighter than a glass one, reducing shipping costs. The company reckons it has a carbon footprint "up to six times lower than a glass bottle."

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Ryan Cee

4 days ago

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It's far easier to recycle a glass bottle than a container that needs two separate waste streams.

The actual problem of recycling glass is companies demands that recycled
glass either retain color variations or stay clear, leading to the same
issue as this unit of extra cost for separate waste streams. It should
be standard to accept that recycled glass has a more indistinguishable
or varied color. If the company was serious about it, they'd switch to 100% recycled glass with no restrictions on hue.

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- Dee An
  
  Ryan Cee
  
  3 days ago
  
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  Pushing a wheelie bin that contains heavy glass bottles is far harder than pushing a wheelie bin that contains plastic or cardboard.
  Additionally, the noise of glass bottles falling from a tipped bin into a collection vehicle can be damaging to a recycling operative's hearing. Earplugs aren't an ideal option, since the operative needs their hearing to avoid other road vehicles.
  Additionally, the use of glass is prohibited in some locations such as parks, nature reservations or festivals.
  
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- Einar Blixhavn
  
  Ryan Cee
  
  2 days ago
  
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  Glass requires a lot of energy to be molten and shaped. The carbon footprint might be less with this design, even if the whole thing is burnt for energy harvesting. Also taking into account the reduced emissions from transporting the lighter packaging.
  I personally think the aluminium can should be adopted for wine. In the US you already have 750ml aluminium cans. Aluminium, like glass is easy to recycle. The drawback is the embodied carbon footprint in the production of the aluminium, but the upside is that aluminium has a high value. Hydro has been talking about "urban mining" which sees the waste stream as ore, and although there isn't that much aluminium in it, it is pure aluminium without the need for the very expensive refining. In Norway, with a deposit scheme, about 97% of cans and bottles are returned for recycling.
  
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Redd Haring

4 days ago

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Will the bag actually be recycled, though? Plastics rarely even reach a recycling facility, let alone become a new product. And I'm sure their carbon estimates assume that *all* of it gets recycled. Move *away* from plastics.

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