Broadland inks major contract with Frugalpac

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 11 October, 2023

Norfolk-based drinks producer and co-packer Broadland Drinks is set to become the UK’s largest filler of ‘Frugal Bottles’ in a milestone partnership with Journey’s End and British sustainable packaging company Frugalpac.

Frugal Bottles have made headlines with their low carbon paper design for wines and spirits, which are made from 94% recycled paperboard.

Now, Broadland Drinks has struck up a partnership to fill and distribute Interpunkt wines in collaboration with Journey’s End Vineyards, which already have listings at All Bar One and Stonegate and Castle pubs.

Read more: Lidl and The Wine Society join Bottle Weight Accord to reduce glass globally

The two companies hope the move will enable Journey’s End to expand Interpunkt wines in Frugal Bottles further into the UK market and beyond with their mission to ‘decarbonise’ the wine industry.

“Partnering with Journey’s End and Frugalpac aligns perfectly with our commitment to sustainability and innovation,” Broadland Drinks CEO Mark Lansley said.

“We are very impressed with the Frugal Bottle’s eco credentials and its rapid adoption by the trade and consumers.

With mass volume Frugal Bottle filling now set to get underway at Broadland, the company is looking to the rising demand for more sustainable packaging. According to a recent poll of nearly 2,500 wine merchants and producers by ProWein, 29% of UK traders plan to list paper wine bottles in their stores in the next two years.

The Frugal Bottles are currently produced by Frugalpac in Ipswich and weigh just 83g – five times lighter than a glass bottle and have a carbon footprint 84% lower than glass. They also offer ‘360 degree branding for exceptional, impactful shelf presence’, Broadland said.

More than 35 different drinks producers have launched 128 different SKUs of wines, spirits and olive oils in the Frugal Bottle globally since 2020.

The move towards the paper bottle at Broadland isn’t surprising, given its history with alternative packaging filling. The company installed one of the UK’s first bag-in-box lines 40 years ago and now has a filling capacity of 50 million litres a year for formats including low carbon bag-in-box, pouches, bottles and cans.

It is also looking to eliminate its fossil fuel usage from its operations by 2025. To help to reach its target, Broadland deploys a range of measures including using 100% renewable electricity, while also generating a third of its own electricity from 1,000 solar PV roof panels. It sends zero waste to landfill and cleans its own waste water.

The new partnership comes weeks after Frugalpac confirmed the second sale of their Frugal Bottle Assembly Machine to North America, with California’s Monterey Wine Company.

Frugalpac chief executive Malcolm Waugh said: “By Spring 2024, Frugal Bottle production will rise to 7.5 million bottles. The Frugal Bottle revolution is in full swing, it’s here to stay and for the sake of our planet it’s time to get on board.”

Interpunkt founder Andrew Ingham added: “Interpunkt’s mission is to make sustainable climate-conscious wine as accessible as possible.

“Our paper bottles emit six times less carbon than glass wine bottles. Packing our wines in the UK is the next step in the journey to decarbonise the wine category... This is a great step towards achieving our vision and crucially, helping to reduce our impact one paper bottle at a time.”

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